The Culprit From Hell
by SpookOrSpectre
Summary: A Margay disappears under unusual circumstances, and Nick and Judy are asked to do what they do best. But it's stranger than just a cat gone missing, and there are secretive forces at work. Beware the creatures that lurk in the night.
1. Chapter 1: That's a Start

**A/N: Hey, what's up? I'm Spook (Or spectre, whichever you'd like) and this is my first attempt at fanfiction! Hopefully I've done everything properly in terms of formatting, rating, publishing, and such, and if not let me know. Please let me know how I did story wise too!**

 **I've had ideas bouncing around in my head for a while and I finally decided to organize them into a story. I had a tough time deciding what sort of tone I wanted this to have, and finally decided it should be exactly what it is: creepiness dropped Into the middle of a Disney movie, with emphasis on the creepiness.**

 **Even though it starts off focusing on Nick, it won't really focus on anyone in particular, this was just a way to introduce it, and to set the tone for how Nick feels, since a lot has changed for him since the events of the movie.**

 **So, without further ado, enjoy**

 **...**

Nick stirred from his sleep, his radio alarm going off. _Good morning zootopia! The time is currently 5:30 AM, Monday morning. The weather forecast for today looks like we're starting the day nice and clear, just a few clouds, temperature hovering in the mid-70s, but as we get further into the morning up to the afternoon we're going to see a storm coming in from over the water to the southeast. You can expect some moderate rain and some lightning, nothing serious but a bad day for a picnic…_

Nick shut his alarm off. Even though it was early Monday morning, he was happy to be awake. Today was going to be another day of his new life. He had become a respected member of the community and got to work a meaningful job with a good friend. Nothing could get in his way. Not even Monday morning.

He got out of bed and went about his morning routine. He made coffee, took a shower, got dressed, and ate breakfast. He pinned his badge to his chest and smiled at what he saw in the mirror. After all these years he could be himself, and not have to lie and cheat his way through life. It was like he had finally become a member of the ranger scouts.

He left his apartment complex and began his walk to the precinct. The sun was just rising and not very many animals were out and about yet. The golden yellow morning light gave everything a warm hue. He smiled as he passed by mammals, a few saying 'good morning officer' to him as he walked along. He beamed every time, and gave them an enthusiastic 'good morning to you too!' to every one of them, adjusting his sunglasses accordingly.

Once he made it to the precinct, he strolled in and saw Judy and Clawhauser, chatting away about nothing in particular, as always. They both spotted him and halted their conversation.

"Good morning Nick!" Judy said, Clawhauser waving as well.

"Good morning Mr and Ms gossip!" He quipped.

"Yeah right, like we actually gossip," Judy said

"I'll believe it when I hear it fluff. So what's new around here?" He said, leaning up against the front desk.

"Well, my favorite donut place just released a new flavor, orange creamsicle. Imagine that! I can't wait to try it."

"Sounds a little horrific but you gotta try new things. How about you Carrots?"

"Eh, nothing much… Oh! We're getting new assignments today!" Judy said, a smile forming as she realized this.

"Yeah, I'm getting a little tired of the three P's myself." He said, referring to the infamous 'Patrol, Paperwork, and Parking duty.' Ben chimed in, hoping to get them excited.

"Well then I have some good -well, good for you two- news, a margay went missing in the rainforest district and I think you two might just get the case."

"Well, we are good at those aren't we Nick?"

"Yes we are carrots, yes we are," He replied with his usual smirk. He then checked his watch.

"Looks like we should head over to the bullpen," he said. She nodded and they both said their goodbyes to Clawhauser.

They made their way into the briefing room and sat in their shared chair. Judy sat there smiling, while Nick assumed his normal posture. She looked at him, a little confused.

"Aren't you excited Nick? A real case!" She asked. He tried very hard to be his usual, flat self, but her excitement got the best of him.

"Yeah, this Is a little exciting," he admitted as a more genuine smile spread across his face.

"Ha! good ol' slick Nick is coming out of his shell!"

Nick gave another eye roll.

"Just for you fluff."

Their little moment was then interrupted by Higgins shouting and the chief bursting through the door, followed by a cacophony of pounding and grunting. He walked to the podium and bellowed out his greeting.

"Alright, alright... ALRIGHT! You guys need to quit doing that..." he said, lamenting the tradition. He then began giving assignments. After he made his way through roughly half the room he got to Nick and Judy.

"Hopps, Wilde, a margay recently went missing in the rainforest district, it may be drug related so keep a lookout for gang activity. Try not to get yourselves into any crazy ordeals this time, please?" He said with a smile, knowing their track record with missing mammal cases. The Chief handed Nick the case file. The two saluted him and walked out of the briefing room.

"Yes! I knew we'd get the case!" Judy said, beaming.

"Let's look this thing over," Nick said with a hint of excitement. They went back to their office space to check it out. Nick placed the folder on the desk and sat down in his chair, Judy taking a seat on the desk.

"Steven Paradit. Margay. Male. Age 24. Works in graphic design and marketing for Targoat. Also a known small time catnip dealer. No criminal record aside from nonviolent drug offenses. Came from a working-class family and according to them only deals to close friends for recreational purposes and is generally kind, nonviolent, and law-abiding..." Nick read aloud.

"Hah, 'generally law-abiding,' aside from selling illegal drugs. Anything detailing the circumstances of his disappearance?" Judy asked.

"Says here he called his friend, Paul, at around 8 O'clock Saturday night, saying he was hearing strange noises outside his house. Apparently he hung up and went to investigate and he hasn't been heard from since."

"Strange noises? Does it give any description?"

"Nope."

"He is a catnip dealer, he's gotta be connected with organized crime at some level. Perhaps his 'friends only' thing wasn't working out so they called a hit on him?"

"Seems possible… why don't we check out the scene?"

"That's probably our best bet, let's go," Judy said as she hopped off the desk. Nick got out of his chair and they headed to the garage, talking along the way.

"So, I'm thinking we should interview this guy's friend about what kind of noises he was hearing if we don't get anything from the scene," Judy said.

"and we should probably talk to some neighbors and family, ask if he had been acting strangely recently" Nick replied.

"Good thinking, maybe he knew he was in trouble," she said as they walked through the door into the garage. They got to their cruiser and climbed in. Judy pulled it out of its spot and began working her way out of the parking garage.

They made it to the exit and the mammal on garage duty opened the door for them. As it slid up, the door revealed the dreary day it had become. Moderate rain and occasional thunder.

"Well, the weather really took a turn for the worse," Nick said as they drove out, the rain hitting the roof of their cruiser.

"I don't mind it really. I've always liked the sound of rain," Judy said.

"I tell ya carrots, I don't think I've ever met someone who doesn't," Nick replied as he sank a bit into his seat, enjoying the cozy dreariness.

"Now all you need is a blanket and some tea."

"Maybe a Long Island iced tea…"

"Oh you! Lazy drunkard," Judy teased. The drive was smooth and relaxing. No emergency calls, no traffic stops, just a car ride in the rain. Nick didn't show it, but he was pretty happy at the moment, riding around with Judy, going to investigate their first real case in weeks. After half an hour of working their way through the streets in the rain, they finally arrived at their destination, the home of Mr. Paradit.

It was a quite modern home, with a flat, sloping roof. The front of the house was entirely metal, wood, and large picture windows. It was on a quaint street, with most of the other houses being more typical looking. Behind it was thick rainforest.

"How about we check the inside first?" Nick said, wanting to avoid the rain.

"I like that idea," Judy replied as she put on her rain gear. They got out of their cruiser, stepped under the police tape, and made their way to the door. Nick took out the keys that had been provided with the file and unlocked it. They stepped inside and looked everything over.

"Well, I guess you could say that dealing was probably not his main source of income, otherwise we would be in big trouble standing here," Nick noted, looking around at the well decorated, ultra-modern interior.

"Yeah he's either the mob boss or the graphic design boss," Judy joked. They began looking for signs of a struggle or intrusion into the house, but everything seemed to be in order. They made their way to different rooms to look for smaller pieces of evidence, and Judy was in the kitchen when Nick called to her from upstairs.

"Well carrots, I think I found his stash… definitely not a very big one..." He shouted as he removed a plastic bag with a small amount of what was apparently catnip from a case on the dresser.

"That kinda leaves out any sort of gang activity!" She replied.

"We don't know that yet!" He said, mostly in agreement but not wanting to rule things out. Judy then called out to him.

"I found his phone! It was just sitting on the counter in here!" She said.

"Hopefully that has something useful on it," Nick said, now coming down the stairs.

"Well, I didn't find anything other than the phone, did you?" She asked him.

"Other than the catnip, no."

"I guess it can't hurt to check the outside..." She said as she looked out at the rain. They put their raincoats on and shuffled outside. They split up, Judy going to the left of the house, Nick taking the right. They walked around the perimeter and Judy found something as she rounded the corner to the backyard.

"Nick, you gotta come see this."

Nick quickly jogged over.

"There are claw marks in the ground here… some seriously deep claw marks. it's like he got dragged away into the forest…" She said, taking a picture of the now muddy trail leading into the brush. They both kneeled to get a better look.

"It's not very long. It's like he was tackled by someone hiding in the foliage and dragged away," Nick said.

"Yeah but there's only one set of claw marks…" She said, trailing off as she noticed a bit of fur stuck to some barbed weed. She picked it up with her gloved paw and put it in an evidence bag.

"Good eye carrots," Nick said as he stood up to look further into the brush. Judy stayed down, looking for more pawprints, or hoof prints for that matter.

"Yeah I just wish I could see some signs of another individual," she said. Nick didn't see any signs of the foliage disrupted, and it would be impossible to track someone now that it was raining. He turned around and gasped.

"Oh my god… Judy..." He said, calmly but clearly caught off guard.

"What, what is it?" She said, standing up. She looked at him to see a shocked expression on his face. Then she realized what he was looking at. On the side of the house were dozens if not hundreds of claw marks and holes in the siding. Nick stepped closer to get a better look.

"Any idea what they're from?" Judy asked.

"No clue... this doesn't make sense…" He said as Judy walked over.

"It looks like it was made by sets of 2 claws… what has 2 claws?" She said.

"Not only that, but what can climb on walls like this? And how many of them were there?"

"Nick I don't like this."

"Really? Gee this looks like a good ol' time to me fluff," He joked, nervous about the implications of this find. Judy snapped a picture of the wall. They stood looking in silence for a few moments before Judy spoke up again.

"Gosh Nick, this is really strange... I just can't imagine what in the world could have done this," she said. They stood there staring at the wall in total disbelief. Nick touched the siding, feeling the ridges of the claw marks.

"Well, at least now we know we're probably dealing with multiple suspects…" She said as they began to walk back to their cruiser. They discussed some more before getting in. They put their seatbelts on, started the car, and drove off in the rain. Little did the two officers know they were being watched from a nearby parked car.

In a black sedan with heavily tinted windows sat two mammals, both in business suits. A snow leopard was in the driver's seat, and she was currently holding her tail in her mouth. Beside her was a whitetail deer. The 6 point buck looked over at his partner.

"Would you quit it with the tail thing? that can't be hygienic. That giant duster sweeps everything you walk on," he said. She glared at him, her voice muffled by her tail.

"Oh stop it, you know I do this when I'm nervous," she replied. This statement caught him off guard.

"Nervous?" He said. She dropped her tail to respond.

"What did they find that would have them talking so much? Maybe it's worse than we thought… maybe they know too much… if I'm right about what is going on, it's not going to be a fun time. There are a million reasons I'm nervous," she said. This left him silent, mulling over the possibilities. _Stranger things have happened…_ he thought, dreading what they were getting into this time.


	2. Chapter 2: Looking worse by the minute

**A/N Woo-Hoo! Chapter two! I'm surprised I got six followers already, and a favorite! I see many familiar names, thanks for the support! This story is going to be rather short, possibly around 6-8 chapters. Please review, Let me know what I can improve.**

 **Keep in mind I do want this to be faster-paced writing, less detail and such, but if it doesn't flow well or it's too fast let me know!**

 **Some of you might be able to guess who/what the culprit is, and who James and Tanya are. All will be revealed next chapter!**

 **...**

Nick and Judy were in their cruiser, driving away from Mr. Paradit's home. Though they were still shocked by what they had found, they were more concerned by their lack of findings.

"Hopefully we get a lead soon because that gave us practically nothing," Judy said.

"Why don't we try to talk to his friend, Paul was it? See what he knows."

"Yeah. We're gonna have to go back to the precinct to get some information on him, we should drop off the phone and that bit of fur at the lab while we're there."

"Sounds like a plan," Nick said. He looked out the window at the damp day. The coziness of being in the car while it rained had worn off. Their raincoats had only done so much, and being cold and wet while sitting in a car on a dreary day was not very relaxing. To add to the discomfort, their drive was getting more and more treacherous as the storm worsened. Visibility was low and the roads were slick.

"Nothing too severe but a bad day for a picnic…" Nick mumbled to himself.

"Hmm?"

"Nothin carrots, just remembering the forecast today said 'nothing too severe' but it seems to have gone a little haywire."

"Yeah, I'd say…" She said as she strained to see what was going on around the car. The rain was very heavy at this point, and the thunder was virtually constant. She wondered whether they would even get back to the precinct.

They were a few blocks away and visibility was only a few car lengths. Judy had to rely on GPS just to see where they were. Luckily though, she spotted the garage doors of the ZPD. They slowly rolled open and Judy couldn't wait to get out of the storm. The sound of rain was nice when it wasn't deafening, and this was especially the case with her sensitive hearing. She pulled in and made her way to their spot. She parked and the two got out.

"Well if that doesn't mark the beginning of the rainy season I don't know what does," She said as they closed their doors. They got into the precinct and began walking to the lab. When they got there, Hurriet the sloth was excited to see them, though it took a few seconds for her face to display this.

"Hey… guys!... How's… it goin'?" She said. They reluctantly started chatting with her.

….

Meanwhile, the snow leopard and deer were investigating the scene for themselves. The deer was sweeping the grass with a broom while the snow leopard was slowly scanning the wall.

"Tanya this really doesn't seem like it's getting anywhere," he said.

"Well if you think of a better way to get little prickly hairs out of grass you let me know," she said. He continued sweeping but was growing more restless by the second. It was only a minute or so before he made another comment.

"These things sure live up to their name, irritating," he said. Tanya shook her head, smiling.

"It's urticating, not irritating."

"OK, seriously, what's the difference?"

"Just shut up and sweep silly," She said, resuming her search. One of the holes was particularly interesting to her. In it, there seemed to be a piece of a claw. She went up to it with a tweezer and attempted to pull it out but she struggled to do so.

"James, could you give me a paw here?"

"Really tawn-tawn?" He replied, holding up his hoofs, feigning offense.

"A hoof! A hoof! Sorry!" She said, genuinely concerned she had offended him. He laughed.

"Oh my god, you are just too much sometimes," he said with a smile as he took the pliers and got to work removing the object from the hole. After a while of frustration, he finally got it. He pulled out the slender, dark brown tip of a claw. Tanya looked at it and immediately nodded to him.

"Yeah, that looks like what we should be expecting…" She said, leaving James in shock.

"Well, this is gonna be interesting…" He said.

….

Meanwhile, Nick and Judy were still chit-chatting with Hurriet. Nick looked at his watch and his eyes opened wide for a moment. He nudged Judy to let her know it was time to get down to business.

"Wow! really? isn't that great? Oh! anyways, we're bringing in some potential evidence for a missing mammal case," Judy said, pulling out the cell phone and fur sample.

"So… I'm guessing… you… want… to have… the fur… analyzed… and… data… extracted... from... The phone?"

"Yep! That'll do it for us, thanks Hurriet!" Nick said as he tried to rush out of the room with Judy.

"Cya… guys!" She said as the two left. Judy closed the door.

"We always need sloths at the worst times," Nick said. Judy looked at a clock on the wall. It was already one thirty. They quickly headed back to their office to get information on this Paul individual. Judy sat down at her desk as Nick watched her monitor. She was able to find him in the database, as he too had some nonviolent drug offenses.

"I think this is him, Paul Winfred, he's a sand cat, 23 years old… charged with possession of catnip… here we go, contact info," she read off as Nick took down his address and phone number.

"Should I give him a call?" Nick asked. Judy nodded her head and kept reading. Nick dialed the number and waited for him to pick up. It was an odd hour of the day to be calling but Nick had hope. After a few rings, he answered.

" _Hello?"_

"Yeah hi, is this Paul Winfred?"

" _Yeah, that's me."_

"Great, this is Officer Nick Wilde, ZPD, me and my partner were assigned to find your friend, Steven. We were wondering if you had time for some questions?"

" _Uhhh… yeah, I think I'd be available, you guys have a time in mind?"_

"As soon as possible really, not to rush you but the sooner the better."

" _Well I'm just at home right now, my boss gave me the day off after Steven was declared missing, so you guys can just come on over. Do you have my address?"_

"Yep. The storm might slow us down, so I'd say we'll be over in about an hour, is that alright?"

" _Sounds good to me."_

"Great, cya in a bit."

" _Bye."_

Nick hung up to see Judy staring at him with a huge, dumb smile on her face.

"What carrots?"

"I've just never seen you make a phone call before, you were so polite and professional, it's hilarious!" She said. He thought about it for a second and gave a little laugh.

"Yeah, I am kinda like another person. I guess I still got a little con man in me don't I fluff?" He said, genuinely amused by his old habits. She smiled for a moment and gestured to leave. She got out of her chair and started walking, Nick following alongside her.

"So you think it'll take an hour to get there?" She asked.

"Well with that storm raging it might be even longer," he said. They went back to the garage and got in their cruiser. They put their seatbelts on and Judy pulled the car out of its spot. They headed to the exit again, and the officer on garage duty lifted the door for them. As it arose, it revealed a bright, sunny day.

"Huh, imagine that," Judy said.

"Looks like it's gonna be a much quicker drive than I anticipated…" Nick said, shocked.

The drive was short indeed, and before they knew it they were at Paul's house in Sahara square. It was a rather typical, smaller sized house in a quiet suburban neighborhood. They went up to the door and rang the bell. They heard footsteps inside and moments later a sand cat opened the door, a look of surprise on his face.

"Hi… guess we're a little early?" Judy said meekly, hoping they hadn't interrupted anything with their premature arrival.

"Oh no worries, I just had no idea it was you two! I didn't connect the dots when you said Nick Wilde, who woulda thought I'd have some celebrities showing up! Come on in," he said as he stepped aside and gestured to them to come in. The two shyly smiled at his kind remarks, Nick waiting for Judy to enter first.

"Can I get you two anything to drink?" Paul offered.

"Oh no I'm alright, thanks," Judy said.

"No thanks, thats alright," Nick said. Paul took a seat in an upholstered chair, offering the two a seat on the couch diagonal to it. They took their seats, Judy closest, and began their questioning.

"Well, Mr. Winfred, I'd like to start off by saying we know about Steven's Catnip dealing and the fact that you buy from him, so if that comes up, just know that it's OK to tell us anything. Since this is about a separate case, nothing you say can be used as incriminating evidence against your or Steven," she said.

"Oh good, I was a little worried about how to handle that," he said, relieved. Judy began the interview, wanting to understand their relationship better.

"No worries. So, you and Steven are pretty close friends?"

"Yeah, I'd say. We've known each other for about 7 years now, since high school, and we pretty much went through college together."

"So, you're close enough that you'd be the first one he'd call if something was happening?"

"Well, not for more serious stuff, for things like this, strange noises and whatnot, yeah. For anything more serious he would have probably called his family, or the police obviously."

His description of the phone call being 'not serious' intrigued her.

"So, when he called he didn't think it was anything serious?"

"No, it was just like 'hey I heard some weird noises isn't that crazy?' kind of thing. When we heard the clicking it got a little more serious." Judy jotted something down, his reference to 'the clicking' sparking her interest.

"What kind of sounds was he hearing?"

"Well, at first he said it was just plants rustling around but in the middle of the call there was this horrible tapping and scratching sound, like something was going after the outside walls. After that, he said he wanted to check it out and hung up."

"And that was the last you heard from him?"

"Yeah," he said. That line of questioning had revealed that Steven was in the house when the claw marks were made, but it seemed it was time to move on.

"Hmm... can you tell us more about the nature of his dealing?"

"Sure, um… I guess he wasn't really a dealer in the traditional sense. He basically just got enough to share most of the time. Sometimes we'd buy a little from him but normally it was just us hanging out and nipping with his stuff."

"And when you say 'we' you mean

"Oh, just me and maybe another friend or two. Steven and I were… are real close so mostly it was just me and him, but sometimes we would have another friend or two."

"I see," Judy said, taking a moment to reflect. Nick had been quiet so he decided to chime in.

"Do you know by chance who he bought catnip from, or where he bought it?" He said.

"No, from what I recall he had an agreement with his dealer that it was all secretive, he didn't tell anyone and neither did the dealer, so he could stay away from the gangs... You don't think they did this do you?"

"We think is possible but we don't really know yet," Nick said, apologetically.

"Geez, I hope he's alright. You guys don't know if he's ok or not, or where he is, or anything?"

"No, sorry," Judy said quietly. Nick continued.

"did you notice Steven acting strangely at all in the last few weeks?" He asked. Paul thought for a moment.

"I mean, I don't think so. I hadn't been seeing him all that often but he seemed to be his usual self." He said. Nick and Judy looked at each other, but neither of them had any more questions for him.

"Well, I think that about wraps it up for us. Thank you so much for your time." Judy said.

"It's the least I could do for my friend. I'm glad to know they've got two of the very best on the case." Paul said with a smile. They all got up and Paul showed them to the door. They waved as they got in their car and Paul disappeared back into the house.

"Seems like a good guy, can't imagine he'd be hanging around with any sort of low lifes," Nick said.

"Yeah, poor Steven…"

"We gotta get the guy who did this," Nick said, resolute. Judy gave him a nod of agreement and started the engine, driving away from Paul's house. It was getting too late in the day to do much else so they decided to call it quits. On the way to the precinct, Judy dropped off Nick at his apartment. Nick stopped to discuss before he got out.

"So, what are we doing tomorrow?" He asked.

"Well, if the lab doesn't come up with anything we should probably talk to some neighbors, maybe family too."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Cya tomorrow then carrots."

"Goodnight"

"You too fluff," he said as he opened his door and jumped out. He waved as she drove off. He got to his apartment and changed into more comfortable clothes before making himself dinner.

As he ate, he thought of what might have happened to Steven. The interview with Paul was pretty inconclusive. It seemed like gangs weren't going to be the issue, and the claw marks were only more mysterious now that they know he was in the house and heard them being made. _Tomorrow is another day._ He thought.

Meanwhile, Judy was parking the cruiser again and heading to chat with Clawhauser for a bit. She told him about what they had found. She talked about the claw marks, the strange noises, and the fact that it probably wasn't gang related. This lead Clawhauser to an interesting conclusion.

"It's totally monsters," he said. Judy rolled her eyes.

"Ben it could be a million things. What if it was a scare tactic? What if he's skipping town and had to distract police? Who knows, what if he just went insane?"

"I don't know Jude, seems like monsters to me."

"Yeah sure, what are we supposed to report? That we can't do this guy justice because he was attacked by monsters? And what kind of monsters anyways?"

"Well, that's for you two to figure out."

This made her roll her eyes again.

"Clawhauser it's not monsters."

"It's totally monsters."

"Alright, when we find the mammal who did this, you have to buy dinner for me and Nick. If it's 'monsters,' we buy you dinner for a whole month, sound like a deal?"

"The bet is on hun-bun!" He said, as seriously as he was capable of. They shook paws and left the precinct. They walked together a bit before having to part ways. Judy got to her apartment and made herself a microwaved dinner. As she ate, she entertained the possibility that it was a monster, or monsters as it seemed.

Even though she wanted to think of it from a legal and policing point of view, she found her imagination going wild. She imagined fleshy creatures that were dark red in color, with black eyes and long fangs. Their limbs had two digits with long pointy claws. It was her personal idea of evil. She didn't want to have nightmares and decided to distract herself, but the damage was done. That night, her dreams were haunted by the creations of her own imagination.


	3. Chapter 3: Stranger Than Fanfiction

**A/N: Hopefully revealing all of what happens here in the third chapter isn't too much, but I wanted the pacing to be quick. There's still a bit of a ways to go though, and I may be continuing this as a series, with a real overarching plot!**

 **Anyways, please review, and enjoy!**

...

Judy jerked awake, sitting up slightly in bed. Thankfully, unlike her dream, she was surrounded by her plushies. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. The nightmare she had just awoken from had been going on all night. Hours spent trapped in her mind's dark places.

The monsters she dreamt of were designed by her own imagination to capture the essence of her worst fears. She knew that they couldn't be real, but fear is not a product of what one knows. Fear comes from the unknown, and not knowing what made the claw marks on Steven's house was enough to let her fears run wild.

She looked out her window at the darkness. The sun hadn't risen yet. She wondered what might be out there, but she knew the answer. Nothing was out there but mammals and she knew it. She knew that there was someone responsible for Stevens disappearance, and it was her job to find them. She decided, after hours of nightmares brought on by fear of the unknown, that it was time to stop being afraid and get to work.

Her alarm then startled the life out of her. She yelled and threw her arms up to her head, but immediately realized what had happened. She let out a little chuckle.

" _what are you doing in there rabbit, I'm trying to sleep!"_ Bucky yelled through the wall.

"Oh god, not this…" She whispered to herself, facepawing.

" _Yeah Bucky, leave her alone! She doesn't want to hear this! She was having nightmares all night long!_

" _Oh shut up!"_

" _You shut up!..."_

 _What is with those two? And how do they always hear me?_ she thought. She lamented her neighbor situation for a moment before yawning and stretching. She got out of bed and started going about her morning routine.

She ate some cereal, took a shower, and got dressed. She got all of her gear in order, shined her badge a bit, and left her apartment. She exited the building and headed to the subway station. While she was walking down the stairs she spotted a fully grown American cockroach tooling through the station.

 _Oh sweet cheese and crackers that thing is the size of me!_ She thought, horrified. Of course, this was an exaggeration, but this insect was no joke. She watched as some mammals rushed to get away, while others seemed to care less. Then, a very shaggy looking wolf came by, plucked it off the ground, and ate it.

 _That is so not ok, wow..._ She thought, cringing harder than she had ever cringed before. The wolf kept walking as if nothing had even happened. Some were staring, but most seemed happy that the 'threat' was gone. She finished descending the stairs and waited on the platform. It wasn't long that before a train arrived.

She got on the subway and, unlike her typical commute, she got to sit down. She enjoyed the ride for once, able to sit and watch all the mammals go about their commute, without having to balance or avoid getting squashed. Her stop arrived all too soon and she got off. After that, it was a flight of stairs to the surface and a quick walk to precinct one.

She went through the doors and went up to Clawhauser to start their morning chat.

"Happy Tuesday morning Hopps!" He said, jolly as usual. She laughed and hopped up on the counter.

"Happy Tuesday morning to you too Ben," she said as she sat down, letting her legs dangle off the edge of the desk.

"So, how's your day so far?" He asked.

"Weird, but not so bad. Saw a homeless wolf eat a P. Americana on the subway platform, so that was nice. Then I actually got a seat on the subway! but I had the worst nightmares last night... eventually they woke me up, but get this, while I was trying to get my bearings my alarm scared me half to death," she said with a chuckle.

"Well, quite a morning you've had! My day has been pretty good I'd say. The orange creamsicle doughnuts are great," he said, rubbing his belly. Nick then walked through the doors.

"Hey hey! The gossip twins. How we doin' fluff 'n claws?" He said as he leaned up against the desk.

"Pretty good, you gotta try the new doughnuts, Nick."

"I'll try to choke one down some day. How about you fluff?"

"Not bad. Interesting though, I'll tell you more later. I think we should get to the lab quick and see what they came up with," she said.

"Sounds like a plan. Cya later Claws."

They began working their way to the lab. They arrived and found that Hurriet hadn't arrived yet. Instead, they met the lab technician, Vivian, a spotted hyena. She was fairly well known for being edgy, hardcore, and punk. Her pink dyed mane, metal prosthetic foot, and nose ring added to the reputation, so the two officers were a little nervous.

"Hey, uh, Vivian right?" Judy said meekly.

"Oh, yeah that's me! What can I do for you guys?" She said rather politely. This eased the two a bit.

"We dropped off some evidence for a case yesterday, we were wondering if you had a report ready?" Judy said.

"Oh, the Paradit case? Yeah, there wasn't too much to do, so we got it done quickly. We got some info from the phone but that fur you found didn't have much, it was Steven's," Vivian said. The two were quite surprised by her chipper attitude. Judy looked over the report. They had a list of calls made and a transcript of the last call.

"Could we listen to the call?" She asked.

"Yeah sure, I'll pull it up on my computer," Vivian said as she led the two to her desk. She found the audio file and played it. It began with Paul's voice.

" _Hey Steve, what's up?"_

" _Bro, I've been hearing these creepy noises outside in the forest! it's like there's someone running around!"_

" _Woah, that's weird. You think you should call the police?"_

" _Nah, it's probably just some kids or something but it's like freaking me out! I had to call someone otherwise I'd lose my mind!"_

" _Yeah, I'd want some company if I was hearing weird things out in the forest too."_

" _Yeah man, I was like totally psyching myself out. You think I should go out there and see what it is?"_

" _I don't know if that's a good idea Steve, I know it's probably nothing but-"_

Paul was then cut off by a horrible scratching sound. Thumps and clicks were drowned out by the sounds of the outside wall being shredded by sharp claws. The two were silent for a moment, then Steven whispered.

" _What the hell was that?"_

" _Dude call the police, that was like not ok."_

" _I kinda wanna see what did that."_

" _Are you kidding me Steve? Don't go out there!"_

" _whatever it was, it seems like it's gone now, I'm gonna check the damage to my house…"_

" _Ugh, Steve you idiot don't!"_

" _Dude I'll be fine!"_

" _You literally just called me for moral support and now you wanna go find out what made the noise that was scarier than the ones that made you want to call me? Like, bro!"_

" _Talking with you reassured me!"_

" _Well I'm trying to un-assure you. Don't go out there!"_

" _I'm going out there."_

" _Steven!"_

" _I'll be fine! What could possibly be out there?"_

" _Ugh, fine, but you call me the second you get back inside."_

" _Yeah bro I'll be fine don't worry. Call you in a bit."_

Then the phone disconnected, and the call was over. The three were now sitting there, nonplussed. The noise that was made in the middle of the phone call had them completely stumped. It took them a good few minutes of looking at each other before Judy spoke up.

"Alright, well, while that's kinda simmering in the back of our minds let's check out that fur," she said.

"Oh, sure. Here's the report on that," Vivian said as she picked up a file that was on the desk, handing it to Judy. She began reading it over and it was fairly to the point; it was definitely Stevens fur, but a picture immediately caught her eye. It was a scanning electron microscope image of what appeared to be a tiny feather.

"What in the world is this?" She asked, pointing out the picture to Vivian.

"It looks like some kind of urticating hair, we found a few of them stuck to fibers of the fur. You reported that you found the sample on a spiky weed so that's most likely where they are from but we'll have to do some more tests on it to be sure. It's a very small sample and I'm afraid we'll just end up destroying it if we try anything. We wanted to wait for you to give us the go-ahead," Vivian said, hoping that she had made the right decision. Nick and Judy looked at each other for a second but it was pretty clear that they needed anything they could get. They both nodded to Vivian.

"Well, I'll get right to it," She said, getting to work. The officers said their goodbyes and left the lab, talking on their way to the garage.

"Wow I can't believe there are so many rumors about her, she seems like a very nice mammal," Judy said.

"I heard that she came from a rough background and it took and while to adjust. She's got quite the style though."

"Yeah, she looks the part. So what's the plan now? That still didn't do much for us, other than nullify any reasonable ideas we had."

"Well, I say we should talk to neighbors. This is a pretty low profile case, so someone might have seen something and thought nothing of it."

"But they would have seen the police activity and the police tape, there's no way."

"You never know carrots, maybe they just didn't connect the dots. I don't know what else we have."

"Yeah, you're right, let's head back to the neighborhood. See what you can find on social media about the mammals around that area," Judy said as she opened the door to the garage. They got in their cruiser and started driving, Nick fiddling with his phone, trying to gather information on neighbors.

He then stopped for a moment, staring at the phone. He tapped it once again and a video started playing. From it, Judy could hear the sound of rainfall on a roof and the phone being shifted around. Then a woman's voice whispering 'what in the world is that? God, it's horrible! I hope it's a mammal on all fours that I'm just not seeing right…'

This was enough to cue Judy in, and she looked over at Nick expectantly. He was giving her a horrified look.

"What… what was in the video?" She asked him.

"I don't know… it's too dark, but… I could see something, and it didn't look like a mammal."

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't know Judy, it was low to the ground and fast… It could have been a mammal I guess…"

"Where was it? who recorded it?"

"A kinkajou named Maria, she lives just down the street from Steven. looks like she recorded it from her house pretty recently but not today. She posted it just a few minutes ago," He said. It hit Judy like a ton of bricks. _Oh god, we're gonna be buying Clawhauser dinner for a month,_ she thought.

"We better talk to her, see if there's more to what she saw than she posted online," She said. Nick nodded and they continued on the way. He began looking for Maria's address but had to resort to contacting her through social media. She replied rather quickly, saying she was off of school and at home alone.

He let her know that they were on the way, and the car ride there was quite tense as the two tried to refute what was quickly becoming their reality. Judy sat in silence, focusing on the road, trying to ignore the thoughts coming into her head. She knew nothing would change just from her worrying so she had to focus on the task at hand.

Nick was looking out the window, thinking of what could be going on. His first thought was that it was another Nighthowler attack. Perhaps the culprit had lost two of their claws. _But how did they scale a vertical wall,_ he remembered, nullifying his theory. He couldn't imagine what kind of creature with two claws could scale flat, vertical walls.

They arrived in the neighborhood and parked in front of Maria's house. They nodded to each other before getting out of the cruiser and approaching the front door. Judy rang the doorbell and she heard footsteps inside, then the door opened to reveal a young female kinkajou. She gave them a hollow, nervous smile.

"Hi officers, come in," She said as if she was about to cry. The officers immediately noticed her strange behavior and entered cautiously.

"Is everything alright miss?" Judy asked. Maria sniffled before speaking.

"Yeah"-she sniffled again, followed by a drawn-out exhale-"Yeah, I'm ok, I just… I'm just scared," she said.

"Its alright Maria, you have no reason to be afraid," Nick said as he laid a hand on her shoulder. She wiped a tear from her eye and smiled at him.

"Well, can I offer you two anything?" She asked. They both thanked her for the offer but refused. She then led them into the kitchen to begin the discussion. They all sat down at the kitchen table.

"So, could you tell us more about what you saw?" Judy asked, figuring they could talk about steven once they addressed the major issue.

"I don't even know. I took the video while it was moving through the street the other night, then it went behind the house and, it went into the shed. Its… Something is still in there-" She said, breaking down in tears. Judy immediately went to console her, hugging her.

"Its ok Maria, we're the police, we're here to protect you," She said, patting her back.

"I know, but… It's big and fast… and… and I think it killed Steven." She said, holding Judy tighter.

"What makes you think that?"

"I saw the claw marks on the house… no mammal could have done that," she said between sobs.

"Well, we don't know anything for sure, so don't give up on him yet," Nick said, trying to comfort her. This worked enough for her to let go of Judy. She remained standing next to Maria with a paw on her shoulder. Judy decided it was time to act.

"So, you said you thought something was in the shed?"

"Yeah, I saw it run in there, but I don't know if it left… It got in through a hole in the roof I think… it was so hard to see. You don't want to go check it do you?" She said, concerned. Judy nodded her head confidently.

"Trust me, we'll be alright," Judy said. Nick wanted to make a joke about Judy dragging him into her investigation but decided that it wasn't the time for that. Maria led them to the back door, and the officers started wandering to the shed while she watched through the partly opened door. Just a few steps out the door, there was a knock on the front door. Judy stopped and looked back, Nick noticing this and stopping with her.

Maria looked at the two and Judy told her that it was ok to answer it. She left the door open and started walking to the front door when whoever was there knocked again. She opened the door to reveal two mammals, a deer and snow leopard in suits. The deer was too tall for the doorway, so the leopard introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm special agent Tatyana Vecher of the Agency of Investigation and Internal Intelligence, and this is my partner, James Miller. We'd like to speak with you and Officers Hopps and Wilde," She said, quite professionally. Maria was now scared and confused, but she figured she should listen. Considering all of the law enforcement in and around the house at the moment, she was afraid they would find the shotgun she had in her closet.

"Yeah… they just went out the back to look in the shed…" She said.

"Why is that?" Tanya said, worried.

"Well, I thought I saw someone or something run into it and they wanted to check it-" She began, cut off by Tanya running past her and ordering James to come around the back.

"Hey, I didn't say you could come in!" Maria said, concerned that the situation was getting out of hand. Meanwhile, Judy was slowly opening the door the shed. It was still pitch black inside, so she got out her flashlight. It revealed a horror beyond her wildest dreams. She jumped back and shouted, but calmed down quickly as she realized it wasn't alive.

Inside the shack was the shed molt of a gigantic tarantula, at least 4 feet in leg span. Judy began realizing what exactly she was looking at and dropped her flashlight, covering her mouth. Nick saw this reaction and opened the door further to look in. His ears went completely flat against the back of his head. Tanya then burst through the back door, James rounding the corner of the house immediately after. She made a quite fitting exclamation.

"Oh shit…"


	4. Chapter 4: What?

**A/N: 10 follows! Thank you all! This chapter has 2,666 words in it (not including authors note). Perfect!**

 **Also, please review! If you don't like something, let me know! And if it's absolutely perfect, that would also be nice to know!**

...

Nick and Judy whipped around to the sound of the back door slamming open. Their paws were on their holsters and they saw the two agents, Tanya in the doorway and James jogging around the side of the house. They all stopped in their tracks, staring at each other, not knowing what to do. The agents didn't know what was in the shed, but they had a good idea of what it was, and James facehoofed. Tanya wrapped her tail around herself and started fiddling with it in her paws, looking over at James.

"What do we do?" She asked.

"I don't know…" James said, rubbing the bridge of his snout. Meanwhile Nick and Judy had relaxed a bit, moving their paws off their holsters. They looked at each other confused, and Nick shrugged. They looked back at the two suited mammals when Tanya walked over.

She approached them but excused herself as she passed them to look into the shed. She pulled the door open slightly and gave a 'hmph, yep' before turning around to face the officers. She looked at them for a moment, still not knowing what to do.

"Hi," she said meekly, shrinking a bit and raising her paw to greet them. Nick gave her a little wave, while Judy just stared at her, confused out of her mind.

"Who are you?" Nick asked, confounded.

"Oh! Right! That would be a good start, geez… I'm special agent Tatyana Vecher of the A3I, that's my partner, James Miller," She said, pointing at the deer who was slowly making his way over, still holding the bridge of his snout.

"You can call me Tanya…"

"Yeah, that's great and all, but, what is going on?" Nick asked, his question not really answered. Judy seemed to be on a whole other level of confusion. She was practically drooling her jaw was so wide open.

"it's… going to be hard to explain, but…" -Tanya started, leaning over to Nick and whispering- "does she normally do that?" She asked, disturbed by Judy's expression. Nick glanced over at her.

"Carrots the fly-eating competition isn't till next week," he quipped. Judy snapped out of it with and looked around, eventually coming back to focus on Tanya.

"Anyways, we're going to need you to come with us…" Tanya said.

"We don't have a choice do we?" Nick asked. Tanya gave a sympathetic nod. She didn't like exerting her power over mammals but she needed to in this case. They all walked to the agents' car and Tanya got in the passenger seat, Nick and Judy sitting in the back. James went to talk to Maria.

Judy was still in a state of disbelief, not only over what she saw, but because somehow she recognized the two mammals. She couldn't pinpoint exactly where she had seen them but she couldn't get the thought out of her head. She leaned over to Nick, whispering.

"Nick I swear I have seen these two before," she said.

"Where?" Nick said, intensely curious.

"I don't know! But I know I've seen them!" She said.

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Tanya said as she turned the mirror to look at them, like a mother scolding her children. Judy figured it couldn't hurt to just ask.

"I'm sorry but I swear I have seen you two before," she said. Tanya scrunched her brow for a moment before having some sort of epiphany. A smile spread across her face and she turned around in her seat to look at the two.

"That's right! We were in your apartment!" She said, excited because she also had the same feeling of deja vu. Judy wasn't as excited.

"What!?" She shouted.

"Apartment complex! Not your apartment!" Tanya said quickly. Judy was relieved.

"Oh, geez, phrasing lady."

"Yeah, sorry," Tanya said. Judy was still confused.

"Wait, what were you doing in my building?"

"Oh… I don't… I can't tell you?" She said, the pitch of her voice rising with the last few words.

"Are you not sure that you can't tell me?"

"Yeah… hold on…" She said as she rolled down the window, wanting to talk to James as he was just coming out of the house.

"Call a cleanup crew. Also, what are these twos' security clearance now?" She said.

"Well what are they asking?" James said.

"She's just wondering what we were doing in her building."

"Oh… can't hurt to tell 'em considering everything they are probably going to learn." He said, shrugging. She nodded and turned back to the two officers.

"We were investigating the two that live next to you."

"Bucky and Pronk? What did they do? Or what are they I guess…"

"Well, there's no easy way to put this; they're psychic is what they are," Tanya said very matter-of-factly. Judy was again in disbelief, and so was Nick. Tanya saw their expressions and laughed.

"Yeah, isn't that something! James had the same look on his face when he figured it out too. Ohh, good times," She said, glancing out the windshield.

"So that's why they can always hear me!" Judy said, astonished.

"Yep, probably even before you've thought it," she said. James hung up his cell phone and got into the car.

"Hey, sorry for the wait. I gave the whole speech to Maria. She took it well, I don't think she'll be an issue," he said, the officers giving a troubled look. Tanya attempted to assuage their concerns.

"Don't worry, we just have to tell people to keep their mouth shut, and we only use positive reinforcement... until they disobey, then we take legal action," Tanya said to the officers.

"How much did you give her?" She asked James.

"Five-thousand dollars," he said quite plainly. Nick and Judy's eyes bulged out of their heads, but Tanya was unfazed.

"Did she heckle?"

"No, I was just feeling generous, plus we need to reach that quota."

"Oohhh, yeah I forgot about that," Tanya said. The officers were getting a little restless.

"So what exactly is going on?" Judy asked. James took a moment to think before responding. He started with a sigh.

"You two stumbled across evidence of a cryptid that we have been trying to find since Steven went missing. Our job is to resolve cases like this before the public learns, and cover it up to prevent panic," He said. He then started the car and began driving.

"A cryptid?" Judy asked. Tanya responded.

"Yeah, by definition it's just an animal that isn't known to science but rumored to exist. The giant spider had been known about for a very long time among the natives here, they called it the J'ba Fofi," she said, Nick asking another question.

"Wait, that spider left the claw marks on Steven's house?" He said.

"Yes, spiders actually have claws, two at the end of each leg. They're also retractable." James replied.

"Huh… Where are you taking us?" Judy asked.

"To our office in the headquarters, we need to have a longer talk with you two since you are not only celebrities, but you are police who were assigned to do the same thing we were doing. We're going to need to deal with your higher-ups. Also, do you two mind giving us your phones? For security purposes of course." He said. The two complied, figuring they probably should, no matter how much they didn't want to. These two seemed quite disorganized, or at least Tanya did, and they didn't like it.

Given they had a history of blowing the cover on government conspiracies, they were also quite unhappy with the whole premise of what these two did for a living. Judy was already thinking about how to get themselves out of this situation. They wanted to keep asking questions but the agents refused, telling them they would tell them everything once they were in their office.

It was a tense drive, and everyone could feel it. James kept a straight face while the officers shot him glares through his mirror. Tanya, on the other hand, was very uncomfortable and simply sat there looking around, trying to distract herself by fiddling with her paws. Eventually the two duos began talking amongst themselves, and slowly the tension was reduced to a minimal level, but still ever present.

They arrived at the headquarters, and James pulled the car into the massive underground parking garage. The agents led the officers to their office, putting their cellphones in what seemed like a safe. After all their chatting in the car the tension between the two parties had all but dissipated, but the peace wouldn't last long. They all took seats around the agents' desk, and James started speaking.

"Allright, to start off with, we are special agents at the A3I. We work on what is called the Enigma Program. This program was started in order to investigate seemingly unexplainable events, which we call Enigmas. It became top secret when we realised that there were actually supernatural things occurring in many of the cases.

"This is something we do not want the public to know, because there would likely be mass panic. In order to prevent the public from learning about this sort of thing, we cover up what happens and pay people off to keep their mouth shut. Something we know that you two don't like.

"But let me remind you, this operation is top secret. You will not find mention of it on any piece of paper, or in any computer. The only people who know of its existence are either in the white house or the agency, or they are civilians who have sworn to absolute secrecy. If you speak up about what we do, you'll not only find yourself in trouble with the government, you'll also lose your reputation. Nobody will believe you."

James paused as the officers glared at him. Nick was upset because he never trusted the government very much, and now he knew for a fact that they were doing all the shady things he thought they were. Judy, on the other hand, was royally pissed that they were trying to hide things from the public. The tension in the air was oppressive, and Tanya hated it. She started fiddling with her tail. James began speaking again.

"As for this particular case, we have no info on Steven. He was probably brought back to the J'ba Fofi's burrow and eaten. As for the creature itself, there isn't much more to say other than the fact that it is much, much larger than any other spider species on the planet, but it is a typical tarantula in every other way. That means it has a burrow somewhere, and rest assured, we intend to find it and deal with it.

"Now, for the cover up. We have already spoken to any witnesses of the creature. All we need now is for you two to keep quiet, and use this report as your own." He said as he handed them a file. Judy put it down on the desk without even opening it. James sighed as Judy began speaking.

"Alright, I don't even know where to start. There are a million things wrong here. Why do you think the public cant handle this sort of thing? What are you going to tell Steven's relatives? Why can't our police chief be informed of what's going on? Why, if you two are so high ranking, on such a top-secret program, were you not able to avoid conflicting investigations with other law enforcement agencies? This whole thing is insanity," she said, fuming.

James returned with his own list, and the argument kept escalating. Nick didn't like what the agents were doing but he had no interest in arguing with them given their position. Judy was starting to scare him as she continued arguing. Tanya was also upset with the way their discussion was going. As it raged on, Nick and Tanya were glancing between James, Judy, and each other. Nick's ears were flat against his head, and Tanya had her tail in her mouth as usual.

"Officer you are out of line! We technically outrank you, you cannot tell us what to do!"

"I will make sure the truth comes out! I swear on my life! All I care is that the citizens are safe, and if they don't know what is endangering them, they won't be able to protect themselves!" Judy yelled. James and Judy then noticed their partners' discomfort. After a few moments of looking between their partners and each other, they sighed.

"Maybe we can come to an agreement…" James said, looking at the state of the other two in the room with shame.

"Yeah…" Judy said. They started working out some terms, but they still couldn't agree on whether to tell the public. The discussion was much more civil this time.

"Listen, us two as famous officers can break the news, and nobody would know about your operation, but the public would at least know what happened," Judy said, hoping to convince James.

"I know you really want to but, just trust us, it's not good when more than a few people learn about things like this."

"I can't imagine the city would go into panic over this. The creature is so rare that this is the only real evidence of its existence ever found, there aren't many of them so they aren't a real threat."

"Officer Hopps, I hate to bring this up, but how many savage predator attacks did it take for that news conference to cause a city wide disaster?" James said. Judy solemnly thought. While realistically, that was driven more by a long history of bad relations between predator and prey, Judy couldn't think rationally about something so troubling to her.

This shifted the argument in James' favor, and Judy conceded that the public would indeed panic over such a disturbing event, despite its relatively low threat level. Nick decided that since the argument was over, he might as well take peace where he can get it, even if he didn't like the deal they got. James recapped the plan.

"So, you two will inform the police chief of what exactly happened, and make sure he knows of its secrecy, then you will work with us to find the creature's den and kill it. The public won't know, but Steven's immediate family will be told."

"Agreed," Judy said. Nick nodded as well.

"I'm glad that's over. Sorry guys," James said to Nick and Tanya.

"Well, we're all still in one piece so it could have gone worse," Nick said, and they all had a chuckle.

"Now that that's over, what's next?" Judy said. They all looked at each other and shrugged.

"How about you two tell your chief and get that all sorted out, we'll begin work on locating the burrow," Tanya said, strangely authoritatively.

"Sounds like a plan!" Nick said, surprised by her sudden leadership.

"We'll have some security escort you out," James said, picking up the phone. After a few minutes, two more mammals in suits arrived, a wolf and a puma. Tanya opened the safe and retrieved their phones, handing them to the two officers. The officers put their phones in their pockets immediately, as per the agents' orders. They then said their goodbyes and were escorted to the front of the building. They left and found their cruiser waiting for them right in front, a badger standing next to the car.

He spotted the officers, greeting them, and handing them the keys. They got into their squad car and they felt like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

"Well, back to normal…-ish," Judy said.

"Yeah, for now maybe."


	5. Chapter 5: Not so Normal-ish

**A/N: Sorry that this is a shorter chapter, and sorry for the wait! School has been getting busy, being an engineering major is hard! Next chapter is already started and should be out relatively quickly.**

 **Enjoy!**

...

Judy drove while thinking about how to tell Nick what was on her mind. After seeing the horror inside that shed and the emotional roller coaster that was their encounter with the agents, Judy had finally remembered that she made a bet with a certain cheetah.

"So, uh… I got something I need to tell you…" She started, worrying Nick tremendously. She saw his expression and immediately eased his concerns.

"Nothing serious! Don't worry, its nothing to worry about… just stupid." She said, Nick smirking at her, knowing a guilty Judy when he saw one.

"What did you do Carrots?" He said teasingly.

"I may have made a bet with Clawhauser…"

"Uh huh? And?"

"I may have said that if Steven was attacked by monsters that we would buy him dinner for a month…" she said, wincing. She expected some sort of negative response but Nick simply stared out the window for a moment. Tense seconds passed as she waited to hear from him.

"Honestly carrots, I can't even be mad. You made a bet with odds incredibly in your favor and lost fair and square. Now the real issue is, do I have to pay, considering you dragged me into it?" He said.

"No, I guess I-" She started, Nick cutting her off.

"Wait, wait… we don't have to tell him, do we? I mean, he would never find out…"

"Nick!" She responded, glaring at him momentarily.

"Alright, alright, sorry, nevermind," he said apologetically. They sat in silence. Judy's face then developed a devious grin.

"I mean, technically we aren't really supposed to tell him…" She said. Nick gave a massive smirk.

"Sly bunny," he said, Judy continuing to smile.

Meanwhile, at Precinct One, Bogo was at Clawhauser's desk, concerned for two of his top officers. Their cruiser had been left at an address near the site of the recent Paradit case, and it hadn't moved for hours. They had no radio contact with officers, and they also hadn't answered their phones.

The car started moving again and Ben told Bogo about this new development. They watched in confusion as the unresponsive police vehicle moved normally through the streets, abiding by all the traffic laws. Bogo figured it was just some radio malfunction, and decided not to act.

Then he realized where it had stopped; the A3I headquarters. He facehoofed, hoping that they weren't getting involved with the A3I for this investigation. After a few minutes, it started moving again. Bogo figured they should try radio contact, and he nodded to Clawhauser.

"Officers Hopps and Wilde this is precinct one, please respond, we are very concerned," Ben said. On the other end, Judy and Nick looked at each other in confusion. Judy picked up the radio.

"This is Hopps, what's the concern?" Judy said. Bogo responded rather angrily.

"The concern is that you two went radio silent for 3 hours and then went to the A3I headquarters without warning. What in the world is going on?"

"Oh, right! Well… it's a very long story, we can't say over radio but we will tell you everything when we get there Chief. Sorry for not responding, we have a reason, one that you might not believe."

"It better be pretty unbelievable… I'll be in my office." Bogo said as he ended the transmission. Judy and Nick looked at each other, terrified. He was already angry, and their explanation was not going to make him any happier. This made for a rather somber attitude, and gave them time to reflect on the events of the day.

Nick looked out his window, wondering what other things happen out there that he doesn't know about. He looked at the mammals that he saw passing by, wondering if they were being paid to keep quiet about dark secrets beyond his imagination. He wondered about all the things that he had seen over the years that just seemed a little off. His world was turning upside down, and Judy wasn't faring any better.

She didn't have to look out the window to wonder what went on in the shadows. She had always wondered if there was more out there. But she always left it as a curiosity, something that was just fun to think about. She liked watching the grainy surveillance videos of supposed monsters and ghosts to scare herself. But the truth was too much. Her fear of Bogo paled in comparison to this fear.

"Hey Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how they always say you're afraid of what you don't know?"

"Yeah…"

"Why am I still afraid now that I know that things like this actually happen?" She said. Nick just stared off into space. His mind was truly wandering. He wasn't very afraid at the moment, in fact, he didn't really know what he was. It was a strange feeling, having your view of the world change over such a short timespan.

He had a question or two answered, but this opened the door to many, many more. His thoughts were interrupted when he realized they were close to the precinct. He looked at Judy and she looked back and him. They weren't worrying about Bogo anymore, they had bigger concerns.

Judy pulled into the garage as the doors opened, and made her way to their spot. She parked and they got out, looking at each other before starting their journey to the Chief's office.

"How the heck is he gonna take this you think?" She said.

"I couldn't tell you carrots. He might not even believe us," Nick responded. They started walking and greeted a few of their coworkers, nearly all of them stopping to ask what happened. They made up something about a radio malfunction, but Clawhauser saw them and knew something was up.

"Geez are you guys alright? The Chief isn't gonna kill you, ya know. You two look like you've seen a ghost!" He said, concerned. _Oh, you should'a seen what I saw,_ Judy thought.

"Nope, just a monster," she said, teasing him. She hoped this would ease his concern but it was no good. He gasped.

"I knew it! I told you it was a monster!" He shouted. The two officers quickly shushed him.

"Would you be quiet? We don't need anyone spreading rumors. No, we did not see a monster Ben, I was kidding." She said, hoping he'd listen. He whispered back.

"Don't try to fool me, I know you went to the A3I and I've seen enough TV shows to know what that means! It's a government conspiracy to hide the truth!" He said with goofy, fanatical certainty. Judy rolled her eyes, Nick facepalming.

"Alright whatever, right now we need to talk to the chief."

"I'll see you two at dinner," he said with the most intensity he could muster.

"Yep, bye!" Nick said as they speed off. They power walked to the Chief's office and knocked on his door. He called for them to enter and they did so, taking a seat on the one chair in front of his desk. He looked at the two for a moment, expectantly. Then he gestured with his hand for the two to start talking. Judy began.

"Oh, right, sooo…" -She said, turning around to check if the door was closed- "We kinda got ourselves into a bit of a situation. Nothing that will have any large-scale impact, but, we're going to be busy working on this case for a while…"

"And, what exactly is this situation, Hopps?"

"Ok, you might not believe this but, a giant spider killed Steven, and two A3I agents stopped us from investigating further. They brought us back to their headquarters to explain that they're a top secret operation, with the purpose of investigating and resolving supernatural cases…" She said.

As she continued talking, Bogo stared at her with an incredulous look on his face. However, his expression slowly changed. As he looked between the officers his eyes opened wider and wider, his movements growing faster by the second.

"Oh my god, you two are dead serious aren't you?" He said, baffled. They simply nodded. He rubbed his face and head with his hooves. After a while of doing this, he sighed.

"Ok, so let me get this straight… you two found out that a giant tarantula killed Mr. Paradit, and a top-secret government operation is working to cover this up. They are forcing you to keep quiet and leave the case unresolved… and you want to help them deal with the spider… There are no words Hopps... just, what?"

"It's not what we want but here we are Chief," Nick said, hoping to side with Bogo.

"Why are you helping them?" He asked.

"Would you rather us just trust that they are actually going to deal with the threat?" Nick said. Bogo bobbed his head from side to side, taking Nicks persuasion rather well. He looked at the two and gave a sigh of resignation.

"Alright, I suppose it could have been worse, but you two stay out of more trouble. And please, for the love of god, don't get eaten by this monster."

"That is quite high on my list of things to not do, sir," Nick said, Judy nodding.

"You two always find trouble, I knew I shouldn't have given you that case. Dismissed," Bogo said, chuckling. They saluted and left his office. Judy gestured to head back to their own office and they started making their way to it. When they arrived, they each sat down and discussed what to do next.

"How about we search social media for more reports and see if we can find where the most reports are coming from?" Nick said.

"Hmmm… that would work, if people saw the thing and talked about it online that is. Let's see what we can do," Judy said, the two getting to work on their computers. After a few hours of digging through social media they had managed to find fifteen reports that seemed to match the description they needed.

They were in two clusters, one near Steven's town, and one in a town just north of it. Between the two clusters was another, smaller cluster, located in a group of abandoned buildings. Between the three clusters were uninhabited, rainforested areas.

"Well, looks like we have two possible locations for a burrow. The forest right next to Steven's neighborhood, or the next forest over on that same island." Nick said after they had plotted all the points.

"Yeah. Except all the ones in that other neighborhood are much more recent. It hasn't been back in Stevens area since Saturday night when Maria saw it. Though it seems that the abandoned buildings are a good mix of recent and older. Do you think this thing even has a burrow? What if it's nomadic?"

"Well, I can't think of another way to explain that, but we don't know anything yet. Although it is odd that it would moult in Steven's neighborhood then move to another," Nick said. He looked at the time.

"Woah! Carrots is eight o'clock, we gotta get home!"

"What? Geez we got really absorbed into this, at least we got something useful out of it…" She said as she got off of her chair to leave. They started walking to the garage. They saw the front desk was empty. Ben must have left, not wanting to bother them. They were about to enter the garage, but neither of them liked the idea of going home alone.

"Hey, could I stay over at your place tonight?"

"I would not mind the company after a day like today," he said. They began walking out of the precinct and headed to Judy's apartment to pick up toiletries and a change of clothes. There weren't many mammals out at this time of night, and the sun had set already.

A weeknight in the city was quite eerie. It was quiet, and the few mammals who were out and about were rather dark figures. The two went down into the subway and waited for a train, uncomfortable on the nearly empty platform. They were just waiting for something to happen, for their culprit from hell to emerge from the shadows.

A train arrived and they boarded, the only passengers in their car. The train started moving and they were quickly ushered into the pitch black subway tunnels. Their anxiety was quite high in this perfect environment for supernatural occurrences. Soon they reached their stop and got off, heading above ground again. The reminder that it was still night raised their anxiety levels even more. Judy inched closer to Nick, and held his arm.

"I don't know why you're holding me carrots, you're the better fighter here." He joked, trying to make it less awkward.

"Ha! As if what we're afraid of could be fought, Mr. Meat Shield!"

"Oh so that's all I am, I see how it is."

"Pfft, you foxes, so emotional," She said. Nick rolled his eyes, smiling. They made it to Judy's apartment and she gathered her stuff. She felt awkward knowing that the neighbors could read her thoughts. She tried her hardest to just think of what she was gathering and to get out.

She got everything and the two left for Nick's apartment. The same eerie tension was with them along the way. The subway ride to Nick's was no different though, and they safely made it to his apartment.

Nick offered Judy to sleep in his bed, and he would take the couch, but she refused. They got comfortable in their arrangements and said goodnight. Judy slept soundly, the couch more comfortable than she had expected. Nick was not as lucky.


	6. Chapter 6: Wake up Call

**A/N: This chapter starts off with a very serious tone dealing with panic attacks. If this sort of thing bothers you, the scene is over by the 15th break (between paragraphs and dialogue). Also, let me know if the tone is OK in this chapter, it's a little all over the place.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

...

Nick was lying in bed when he heard a disturbing sound on the outside of the building. The scraping and tapping on the brick exterior was all too similar to the sound from Steven and Pauls phone call. He looked over to his window as hairy legs walked over it.

It was easily as big as him, if not larger. Through the glass he saw the underside of the creature, its fangs dripping with venom. It tapped on the glass with its pedipalps, seemingly probing it. It stopped, and a few moments went by of Nick laying there silently, praying that it didn't know he was there.

It started tapping again, then it violently lunged at the glass with its fangs. The sound was impossibly loud, rattling the fox's mind, but the window held. It tried again, nearly deafening Nick.

It tried a third time, the glass instantly shattering. The monster was trying furiously to wiggle its way in, but Nick was frozen in horror. He sat there, unable to move as its legs flailed just inches away from him. And then he woke up, screaming. His heart was beating so hard he could feel it all throughout his body.

He sat up in bed, the pounding of his heart making him nauseous. He was trembling. He ran to the bathroom and hunched over the toilet. Judy called from the other room.

"Nick? Nick was that you screaming?" She said. She had come straight out of a deep sleep and was still disoriented. She looked at her phone for the time. It was 3 AM. She got off the couch and knocked on his bedroom door.

"You alright in there?" She asked.

"I-I, had a nightmare, and I think I'm-" He took a deep breath "-I'm having a panic attack, Judy," he said. He was barely in control of his body, his limbs shaking violently. He couldn't hold himself up anymore and he crumpled to the bathroom floor.

"Are you OK?"

"No!... P-Please… H... Help!" He shouted, stuttering and pausing to breathe. She opened the door and saw him lying in the bathroom, nearly in the fetal position and shaking like a leaf. She rushed over, crouching in front of him and putting a paw on his shoulder. She remembered a bit of training for panic victims.

"It's alright, it's just a panic attack, it will go away soon. Just take some long, deep breaths... what are you thinking right now?" She said. He took some deep breaths and started wrapping his shaking arms around her. She slipped an arm under him and picked his upper half off the ground, the two embracing each other.

"I just, I'm-I'm remembering the dream, it was, it was definitely just a dream, just a bad nightmare but god, the noise Judy... the noise it made when it tried to break the window, it was so loud," He said, clutching her closer, and resting his head on her torso. She almost cried, she couldn't stand to see him like this.

"It's alright Nick, you're in the real world now, nothing's going to hurt you. I'm here," She said, feeling his shaking die down. They sat there for a few more minutes, Judy rubbing Nick's back as his panic dissipated.

"What was the nightmare about?" She asked, feeling like he was calm enough to talk about it. Nick started sitting up, and they let go of eachother.

"The spider. I was just lying there, in bed, when I heard it crawling on the outside of the apartment. I saw it when it got to the window, and it started trying to get through the glass. The sound when it hit the window was just, crazy… it felt like it was actually in my head, like it was just going to explode.

"then it finally broke the window and I was just frozen there as it tried to get in. That's when I woke up. Gosh, I've never had a panic attack before. I hope it's just because of yesterday, I don't want to experience that again."

"I hope so too. We should get you to the ZPD therapist just in case... I don't think I'll be able to fall back to sleep, will you?"

"Definitely not carrots, I don't even know if I want to," he said, dreading having another nightmare.

"Let's make some coffee," she said as she helped him up. They went into the kitchen and Judy got everything ready while Nick sat down. In a few minutes, they had their coffee and they started talking more.

"I had a nightmare last night. Nothing terrible but, it certainly wasn't fun. I imagined that our 'monster' was a bunch of small, fleshy, two-clawed beasts. They had a face and teeth like a cat but no ears, and no fur, just, red-ish skin. Their limbs were a lot like a spiders' but only one joint, and they had four of them not eight.

"In the dream, we had found the… pack I guess, but they were very aggressive. We were running away from them and we tried to get on a bus for some reason. You didn't make it on l... you were pounding on the windows as they surrounded us… I woke up right after that," she said.

"Sounds like fun carrots. Man, why are nightmares so awful."

"Well, every little thing in biology has a reason it evolved, I'm sure there's some sort of purpose to nightmares," she said, stirring her coffee. Her mention of evolution sparked a thought in Nick.

"You gotta wonder if our ancestors dreamed or if it's just something that more intelligent animals do," he pondered. Judy sat in thought for a moment, still mindlessly stirring her coffee. They spent the next 3 hours talking before they had to get ready to go to work. They finished getting prepared for the day and headed out. They started discussing their plans for the day as they walked down the street.

"So, what's on the to-do list for today carrots?"

"Well, first we should contact the agents and see what their plans are, and let them know about what happened this morning. We should ask them about going to the ZPDs therapist and whether that would be a security concern," she said. Nick nodded in agreement and they headed onto the subway platform.

"Did I tell you I saw a wolf eat a roach on the subway yesterday?"

"Sounds like a classy fella. Was it one of the big ones or the horrible little ones?"

"It was one of the big ones. A big, big one. I swear it was the size of my head. Bigger even."

"Sounds like a nice protein snack. Could you hear the crunch when he bit down?"

"No, thank god, I probably would have just gone home after that."

"Ha! Yeah, I wouldn't blame you. I've never understood why some mammals eat insects right off the wall in public," Nick said, garnering a curious and slightly disgusted look from Judy.

"Why just in public? Nick don't tell me…" She started, trailing off as she noticed the way he was smirking at her.

"Oh, that's so gross..."

"Hey, you gotta get protein somehow," he said to her dismay. Their train arrived and they boarded it. In just a few minutes they were at their stop. They got off and headed above ground, the walk to the precinct going quickly. They walked through the doors and went to chat with Clawhauser.

"Good morning you two! How's it going?"

"Not bad claws, had a rough morning but it coulda been worse," Nick replied. Ben looked over to Judy for her report.

"Same old, same old, you?" She said.

"Pretty good but…" He said, trailing off as he smelled the air. Judy immediately realised why.

"Oh! I stayed over at Nick's last night because I was getting sick of my neighbors."

"Ooohh, I was gonna say. Actually, speaking of which, why aren't you two a thing?"

"What thing?"

"You know, like, a couple?" He asked. Their eyes bulged out of their heads. Judy was about to say something when Nick cut her off.

"You know claws, I keep asking her but she always says she just wants to be friends. I don't get it either," he said with a wicked smirk. Judy glared at him, embarrassed. Ben gasped harder than he had ever gasped before.

"Judy how could you! Nick is such a good mammal, and your personalities are perfect for eachother!" He said, incredibly disappointed with Judy. She facepawed and shook her head, the inside of her ears turning bright red.

"Ben he was joking…"

"I wasn't joking Fluff, that's how I really felt!" Nick said, even catching Judy off guard this time. She lifted her head off her paw with a concerned look on her face

"What? I'm sorry if you confessed your love for me and I played it off as a joke! I do like you as a friend right now, but we could be more than friends..." She said, worried she had hurt him. He facepawed.

"Ok, clearly I can't joke around about this sort of thing…" He said, embarrassed that he had tricked both of them instead of just Ben.

"Oh…" Judy replied, also embarrassed and a little confused. They sat in awkward silence for a bit before Ben chimed in again.

"So, are you two a thing or not?" He said.

...

Meanwhile, at the A3I headquarters, James was entering his office, greeting a Tanya who had arrived earlier.

"Good morning duster tail," He teased as he plopped down at his desk.

"Good morning you horned goofball," Tanya replied, smiling at his new nickname.

"So, I don't know what to do next. I feel like we're kind of stuck. Should we just try to get in contact with Officers Hopps and Wilde, see what they plan on doing? " James said.

"I was thinking we could travel north and try to find a Baka spiritual leader, see if they can contact Jengi to help us find this thing…" Tanya said, quite serious. James sighed.

"Tanya, isn't asking a tribesman to ask their forest spirit where we can find this spider a bit ridiculous?"

"It might be, it might not be. Its all I could think of other than just wandering around in the rainforest district."

"What if we set up a bunch of motion activated cameras?" James offered. Tanya nodded.

"That would work. Do we have the capability to do that?"

"Not really." He said. Tanya let out a drawn out sigh.

"Lets just get in contact with those two and see what they think," she said as she picked up a phone.

…

Back at precinct one, Nick and Judy were looking at each other, not sure how to answer Ben's question. Judy opened her mouth to speak when Nick's phone rang. He was very glad for the interruption, and he immediately answered.

"Oh, hey Tanya!… Yeah… Well, we're not in our office right now, how about we call you back in a few minutes? Yep, bye… Well Ben, looks like this will have to wait for later," he said, hoping Ben would drop it easily.

"Ok, but you two better talk about it! You would be great together!" He said cheerily.

"Yep, definitely, later Claws," Nick said as he ushered Judy away. They headed to their office, talking along the way.

"Geez, that was awkward. I wonder why he thinks we'd be a good couple?" Judy said.

"I have no clue fluff. We do get along very well, plus we tease each other like couples do. And between walking home last night and what happened his morning we practically became a couple already," he said jokingly.

"Yeah… You know, I have to admit, I kind of felt something this morning when we were, you know…" She said, stopping to look him in the eyes.

"Yeah… You know, I… I think the only reason I recovered from that panic attack so quickly was because I kinda feel the same way…" He said, returning his line of sight straight into her eyes. They stood outside their office, with no idea what to say.

"We should probably talk about this later…" Nick said as he gestured for her to enter the office. She nodded and they walked in, Judy picking up the phone and started dialing the number that had called Nick. After quite a few rings Tanya answered.

" _Hello? How'd you get this number?"_

"Oh, Agent Vecher, it's Officer Hopps."

" _Oh! Hi Judy. We were calling earlier because we wanted to know what you two had been up to and what your plans were for the day."_

"Well, yesterday we stayed pretty late analysing a bunch of social media reports that might have been our culprit. Based on their locations we've determined its probably in a forest near Steven's neighborhood, or the next neighborhood over." Judy said.

On the other end, Tanya and James looked at eachother, dumbfounded. Tanya put her paw over the phone and whispered to James.

"Why didn't we think of that?" She said, to which James just shrugged. She Took her paw off the receiver to talk again.

"Good work! Did you want to head over to the locations and scout them out?"

" _Yeah, that's what we were thinking but we wanted to get in contact with you guys first."_

"Welp, we've been contacted, and we think it's a great idea! When do you want to meet?"

" _Well, there's something else we need to discuss first. Officer Wilde had a panic attack this morning over what happened yesterday, and he wants to seek counseling with the ZPD's therapist. Would that cause any problems security wise?"_

"No, not really. They can't talk about what they hear anyways, and if it's very sensitive information then they will treat it as such."

" _Oh, good. I think I need to get some help too, I can't stop thinking of all the things I've seen online that freaked me out but I figured were fake…"_

"Oh, all that kinda stuff? A huge majority of it is fake. We take down anything we know is real, but some things do slip through the cracks…" Tanya said, not exactly easing Judy.

" _Oh, ha, isn't that great?"_ She said nervously.

"Yeah, see? Nothing to worry about. Anyways, what about a time to scout the rainforest?"

" _Oh… ummm… it's probably going to be around noon-ish-"_ she said, pausing to look at the time, which read 7:50 " _-Maybe we should get lunch. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot."_

"Sounds alright to me. What will you two do in the meantime?"

" _Probably a bunch of paperwork, therapy, and figuring out our current relationship."_

"Sounds like a very strange but overall not too bad day. Let's talk later about lunch."

" _Sure, sounds good. Talk to you later, buh-bye."_

"Bye," Tanya said, giving a guilty smile at Judy's 'Buh-bye.' James knew that look when he saw it.

"You and your thing for small town, farmland dialect."

"I'm sorry! I love it! Rural people are just so polite and friendly, it's adorable!"

"You heard the woman, that fox already has her!" he said teasingly. She rolled her eyes.

"I told you that was one time! I'm not into women! Or rabbits!" She said defensively.

"Seems like you were pretty into that one doe!" he said. She gasped as he laughed.

"Agent Miller I was not and you know it! We went out on one date for fun! God, you are the worst!" She said, mostly angry but partly amused by his teasing.

"Ok, ok! I'm done!" He said, recovering from his laugher. He was straight faced for a moment before a smile creeped back on. He covered his muzzle to avoid laughing. A huge smile grew on Tanya's face. She found his ability to crack himself up very amusing.

"Don't you dare!" She said, pointing at him accusingly, still smiling. She knew that he had just thought of something really 'good' but she wanted to hear nothing of it.

"I wont, don't worry… we should get back to work."

"You bet your fluffy little tail you should get back to work Mr.," she said, glaring at him playfully. They spent the next few hours rifling through paperwork and online reports, trying to get another lead on this spider. Eventually, their phone rang again and Judy was on the line, sounding irritated.

" _Hey again. What are we doing about lunch?"_ She said, followed by Nick saying something that was too difficult to hear. Tanya began to respond but was cut off by Judy.

" _Would you knock it off!"_

" _Come on carrots just one little squeeze…"_

" _Nick, for the last time, I don't want to play with the damn stress ball! I'm trying to talk on the phone!"_

" _Your loss…"_

" _Ugh… Sorry about that Agent Vecher. Anyways, lunch?"_

"Sure. How about we just go to Bug-Burga?"

" _Sounds good to me. Nick you want to go to Bug-Burga?"_

" _When?"_

" _Now."_

" _Why?"_

" _Nick, we said we were going to meet the agents for lunch."_

" _Who?"_

" _Ugh, just, we're going to get lunch ok?"_

" _Sounds good to me carrots."_

" _Oh my_ god, _he is so out of it right now. The therapist here gave him some pills in case he has another attack. He took one to make sure it wouldn't cause any problems, and apparently it didn't agree with him so now he's just high as a kite."_

"Ha! At least he's having a good time." Tanya said. On the other end, Judy's expression softened as she realized she shouldn't be so irritated with Nick. She watched him as he squeezed the stress ball, a constant smile on his face as he watched it deform and bubble out between his fingers.

"Yeah, he certainly is," she said to Tanya, still watching Nick play around with the stress ball.

" _So you want to meet at the one on Rain Street?"_ Tanya asked.

"Sure, how does 12:00 sound?"

" _That'll work for us! See you then."_

"Yep, bye." Judy said, hanging up the phone. She turned and stood up, gesturing for Nick to follow. He looked at her for a moment, confused, so she made a more animated gesture. He understood and began to follow her.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to get lunch."

"Yeah, where?"

"Bug-burga."

"Oh… you know, I gotta say, I don't really like Bug-Burga all that much," Nick said, Judy facepawing as they left their office.


	7. Chapter 7: An Inconvenience

**A/N: This is another slightly silly chapter where not much happens… well, except for what happens to Tanya. The idea for what happens to her has been going around in my head and I decided to put in right here. Next chapter things will pick up… A LOT. A lot will happen next chapter. It may even be the end. This storyline will be continued in "A Case of a Curse."**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

...

Judy walked Nick to the garage. His little high would wear off pretty soon, probably by lunchtime according to the doctor, but in the meantime, he was a bit loopy. She had to turn around to get his attention as he got distracted by various random things.

"Hey fluff, you ever see this bench over here?" He said, standing and pointing at it in surprise.

"Yes, Nick, That's been there forever."

"You know, that's funny, I've never seen it before."

"That's nice but we gotta get to the cruiser, Nick," she said as she held his paw to tow him along.

"Ok," he replied complacently as he let her guide him through the halls. Other officers stared in confusion as Judy dragged Nick along. Nick excitedly waved at them as he passed.

"Hi Delgato! We're going to get lunch!" He said, ecstatic. Judy facepawed and pulled him harder. _Why does he have to be so obnoxious?_ She was embarrassed by the whole situation. They made it into the garage and got into their squad car. Judy made sure to remind Nick to buckle his seatbelt.

She pulled out of their spot and she started driving to the Bug-Burga. Along the way, Nick was growing more and more intent on playing some music. He would reach over to play with the radio but Judy would slap his paw out of the way.

"Nick stop it you're going to press the wrong button!" She said, trying to focus on driving.

"I got this carrots, don't worry," he responded. Just as he was reaching over again, Judy made a turn, and his lack of balance made his arm go straight into their control panel. The sirens started blaring and Nick recoiled, startled. Judy watched as the cars in front of them all pulled over.

"Nick! I told you this would happen. I gotta drive, you need to turn them off!" She said. Nick stared at all the buttons, groaning with anxiety. He cautiously poked one, seemingly to no effect.

"What did that do?" Judy said, immediately realizing what it did when she heard her voice echoing outside. _Oh sweet cheese and crackers he turned on the megaphone._

"You gotta turn that one off, it wasn't the right one."

"I don't know which one I pressed!" He said. His drunken reasoning figured the radio might do something, so he started fiddling with it, hitting various knobs and buttons. The radio started blasting screaming death metal, the song being broadcast outside by the megaphone.

"That's definitely not it Nick!" Judy shouted. She decided enough was enough and stopped the car in the middle of the road to turn everything off. Once all of the obvious buttons were switched off, she glared at him. He had a very sad, guilty look on his face.

"I told you not to play with the radio!" She yelled.

"I'm sorry…" He replied, giving her puppy eyes. She shook her head, and suddenly Clawhauser's voice came through their radio.

" _Attention all officers, we have a squad car down on Fern and Rain Street! Repeat, squad car down on Fern and Rain street!"_ He said. He switched transmission frequencies to just their car's.

" _Nick, Judy, what's happening! Please tell me you're ok!"_

"Yeah we're OK, we just…" She started, realizing that she wasn't transmitting. She tried the transmit button again but it still wasn't working.

" _Guys! What's going on! Oh god, please tell me they're not dead…"_ Ben said, choking up. Judy rushed to figure out what was wrong when Nick suddenly hit a button, nodding to her to try again. It worked.

"Ben we're OK, so sorry for startling you, we accidentally hit the wrong button."

" _Oh thank god you guys are ok! I don't know what I'd do without you! All the morning conversations and antics, and betting on when you two would finally go out on a date. Gee, I thought you two were getting kidnapped or…"_ He started, rambling on about how he thought they were dead, or the various things that could have been happening.

"Yes, we're ok… no that didn't happen… Ben… Ben!... BEN!" Judy yelled.

" _...And the robbers were taking you two hostage and… Oh, sorry. Got a little emotional there."_

"It's alright, we appreciate the concern," Judy said. She then noticed a very familiar black sedan whipping around a corner behind them. It had emergency lights in the windshield and the headlights were also flashing red and blue. It screeched to a halt, the agents quickly getting out and drawing actual firearms.

"Oh no… Ben, you gotta call the false alarm!" She said. _Why do they have real guns! Oh, this is bad, this is so bad…_ she thought.

"It must be a carjacking!" James yelled to Tanya as they slowly approached the car, their guns trained on the windows. Nick and Judy stared at each other as Tanya yelled for them to get out of the car with their hands up. Suddenly, another squad car arrived in front of them, Rhinowitz and Fangmeyer getting out but staying behind their doors. Rhinowitz immediately went to the back of their car and returned with a shotgun.

The agents were glad for the backup, but from Rhinowitz' perspective, he saw Nick and Judy sitting in the front seat of the car, with two suited mammals threatening them at gunpoint.

"Drop your weapons and step away from the vehicle!" Rhinowitz shouted, training the shotgun on Tanya. She looked at him for a second, confused. She then saw that Nick and Judy were in the car. She still had her gun raised when she realized what this must look like, given their sedan was obscured by the officers' car. But it was too late, and before she could act on this realization, Rhinowitz fired.

The slug hit the left side of her chest. She spun slightly from the force, and stumbled, slamming her back into the squad car. She slid to the ground, clutching her chest. Rhinowitz saw it all unfold, seemingly in slow motion to him. Clawhauser's call-off came through, but Rhinowitz wasn't paying any attention. He just saw the mammal he had probably just killed leaning up against Judy's squad car.

While Rhinowitz was still in shock, Fangmeyer went to help Tanya, given that he'd heard the call off and saw James holding out his badge. Judy got out of the car and immediately went to Tanya's side. She was sitting up against the car, holding her chest, barely breathing from the pain, but conscious.

"Oh my God, Tanya…" Judy said, not even bothering to ask if she was ok. Fangmeyer crouched in front of the two with a first aid kit. As James came around to Tanya's side of the car, he saw where she was hit and let out a huge sigh, putting his hoof over his forehead. He had never felt so relieved.

"Alright miss you'll need to lie down so I can help you," Fangmeyer said as he opened the first aid kit. Tanya lifted her free paw, waving 'no' and shaking her head slightly.

"I'm OK…" She said, the words straining through clenched teeth. She lifted her other paw off of her chest, holding the flattened lead slug. The officers stared in disbelief. She dropped it and lay down, bringing her hind paws closer to her and giving her tail a tiny hug.

"Our suits… they stop the bullets but… Oweeeeeeeee…" She said quietly.

"Oh poor Tawn-tawn…" James said in sympathy.

"I am so, so sorry miss..." Fangmeyer said. Tanya just waved as if to say 'don't worry about it.'

"Not the first time I've been shot… just last time it wasnt a shotgun slug… and it wasn't right there…" She said. They all cringed when they realised she had been shot directly in the mammary. Judy covered her own chest in a moment of sympathy pain.

"Right in the kitty titty…" Fangmeyer said with a guilty smirk. James facehoofed, partly to cover his smile. Judy snorted and covered her muzzle to stop from laughing. Tanya let out a short laugh and soon enough the four were cracking up, Tanya hacking and coughing, trying to avoid laughing due to the pain.

Meanwhile, Rhinowitz had finished calling in the incident and was making sure Nick was ok, figuring the situation was under control. Nick was definitely acting weird.

"You alright Wilde?" He said.

Nick silently nodded to him with a blank expression.

"She's ok by the way, in case you were wondering…"

"I heard…" He replied, not looking at Rhinowitz.

"You sure you're ok dude?" he asked.

Nick slowly looked up to him and gave him a nod.

"Alright…" Rhinowitz said, uneasy. He went around the car to talk to Judy. The four of them had stopped laughing and were kneeling or sitting, Tanya having leaned up against the squad car again.

"Hey Hopps, Nick is acting real weird in there, you might wanna talk to him." He said to Judy before kneeling down with Fangmeyer.

"I am so sorry miss… God am I glad that you had body armor on though. I thought I had just killed someone…"

"I'm pretty glad I had body armor on too." She replied, making Rhinowitz chuckle. He was still shaking from the adrenaline rush. He then noticed that she had no bullet holes in her clothing and no vest.

"Where was your armor?"

"My suit is bulletproof. Pretty neat huh?" She said. His eyes bulged out of his head. He knew that bulletproof suits existed, but ones that could stop a 12 gauge shotgun slug without any sort of visible damage to the suit or severe injury to the wearer was unbelievable to him.

Meanwhile, Judy was going to check on Nick. She opened his door and looked up at him. He watched the door open then stared at her blankly. She already felt uneasy about the way he was acting.

"You alright Nick?" She asked.

He slowly but confidently nodded.

"You don't really seem ok…" She said. She hopped up onto his seat and closed the door.

"You want to talk about it?" She asked, concerned. Nick wrapped his arms around her and started patting her back. She slowly wrapped her arms around him, confused.

"Why are you hugging me?" She said, her words pulsating with his rhythmic patting of her back.

"You seem worried," he said plainly, switching to a rubbing motion. Judy was still confused.

"Yeah, I'm worried about you, you're acting really strange," she said. He released her from the hug.

"oh… well, I'm fine, so, don't worry," he said, looking at her with the same dead expression. She was very uncomfortable with the way he was acting, but she saw Tanya standing up outside and figured she should go and talk to them about what their plans were.

"Ok. Well, just sit tight while I go talk to those two about what we're doing next," she said. She opened the door and hopped down. She walked around to the other officers and the agents. Rhinowitz and Fangmeyer were enamored with the two, figuring they were super spies or something of the sort.

James and Tanya were trying not to crack up. Since they couldn't really say much about what they did, their lack of disclosure had the two officers convinced they were spies of some kind. Judy had to intervene.

"No guys. They aren't spies. Turns out we're working with them on our current case, and we kinda need to get back to work… and clear up the road…" She said, noting that while mammals had room to pass them and that it wasn't a very busy place, they were still in the middle of the street.

"Well, we'll let you four get back to work. Again, we are so sorry Agent Vecher. Have a nice day." Rhinowitz said. Tanya waved as the two officers walked away.

"Huh, that's not something you see every day. Somebody shoots you and not 10 minutes later they tell you to have a nice day," James said.

"Yeah, I'd say. So what's the plan?" Judy asked.

"We should take Tanya to the hospital just to be sure she's alright," James said.

"I'm hungry though. Can I go to the hospital after we eat?" Tanya said. James was half amused, half proud.

"You get shot in the chest with a shotgun and want to get lunch before you go to the hospital. Tanya, has anyone ever told you that you're a total badass?"

"I'm not a badass, just a hungry idiot," she replied, laughing.

"Then let's get something to eat," Judy said. They all nodded and went to get back in their cars. Judy hopped up on to her seat to find Nick with his head slack and his eyes closed. He was motionless, and for a second Judy thought the worst, but she reasoned with herself before she panicked.

"Nick?" She said, to no response.

"Nick?" She said again, slightly louder. He snorted. _Ok, he's not dead, that's good._ She let out a rather loud sigh, rousing Nick more. He lifted his head and looked around for a moment.

"Ha, good morning slick!" She teased. He gave her a surprised look and checked his watch. He then looked back at her, still confused.

"Carrots I gotta say I have no clue what's going on. Why are we here and where have I been for the last 3 and a half hours?"

"You took an anxiety pill and it made you very, very loopy. Then we left to get lunch and one thing lead to another and Rhinowitz shot Tanya with a shotgun." She said as she started driving. Nicks jaw dropped.

"That's terrible! What happened? Gosh, poor Tanya. Is she in the hospital or…"

"Shes fine. She's in the car behind us. It happened just before you passed out and you woke up fairly soon after."

"Shes fine? Was it a sandbag round?"

"Nope, a lead slug. Her suit is bulletproof, stopped it no problem."

"Oh, gee that sounds like a good time. Thin suit stopping a supersonic chunk of lead. She isn't going to the hospital to make sure it didn't cause any internal damage?"

"Nope. She wanted to eat first, so we're driving to Bug-Burga right now." Judy said. Nick smiled at the thought of her wanting to get lunch after being shot.

"She's tougher than I thought! What a badass."

"Ha! Yeah, that's what James said. Gee, I am so glad you are back to your usual self, high Nick is quite irritating."

"Well if it makes you feel any better I don't plan on tripping on my anxiety pills again any time soon," he said. Judy smiled. High Nick was pretty amusing in retrospect, even though it didn't seem like it at the time.

Soon enough they had arrived at the Bug-Burga. Tanya and Nick got cricket sandwiches, while James and Judy got salads. They munched away on their variously portioned meals and made small talk. Things were fairly plain until they started discussing why they chose the careers they did. James asked Judy first.

"Well, I didn't really have a tough time figuring out what I wanted to do. Ever since I was a kid I've wanted to become a police officer. I just want to help people and make the world a better place," she said. The agents both smiled, they knew the feeling of being driven from a young age.

"What about you?" She asked. He leaned forward a bit and spoke quietly. The restaurant was loud enough that nobody would hear him.

"Well, when I was young, I always had a fascination with unresolved causes, and I couldn't stand those cases where they thought the got the wrong guy. I joined the A3I so I could help solve some of those old cold cases or free some people who didn't deserve the conviction. But as I started working on those old cases, I realized that some of them were just... beyond normal explanation.

"I brought some of my findings to my higher-ups and they agreed that things were happening that needed special treatment. They created the Enigma Project so they could have a specific group of people investigating these strange cases," he said. Tanya figured it was her time to chime in but she had a mouth full of bug burger. She covered her mouth and held up a paw as if to say 'gimme a sec.' She swallowed and started speaking.

"I used to be a physicist, but I only became a physicist because I always knew there was more out there than what we saw, and I wanted to explain things rationally. Well, that, and I love physics... Anyways, I just wanted to know the truth behind myths and legends, I wanted there to be science behind it.

"I was known for publishing papers discussing UFO sightings and ghosts and monsters and all of that sort of thing. It was just a hobby really, and everyone knew it was just that, so I wasn't seen as one of those crazy tin foil hat people. The A3I took an interest in me when they realized I was doing exactly what they were trying to do with Enigma. So they offered me a job and, of course, I took it. We've been working on the project for 3 years now."

The officers nodded. They had a lot more respect for the two now that they knew their intentions. They were just driven by curiosity. Nick had a question though.

"If you two are so interested in the truth, then why do you cover everything up?" He said. The two gave a heavy sigh, and James started.

"As you might be able to imagine, it's not our choice. We would rather have these things be well known and studied by everyone, but our superiors feel that the public isn't ready. I disagree with covering things up, but l don't know if the public is ready, so I'm torn." He said. Tanya gave her side. She looked down at the table, fiddling with a sandwich skewer.

"I lose a lot of sleep thinking about what we do. We do the things that make it hard for people like me to learn the truth. We are the secret government that doesn't want you to know what goes on in your own backyard... We try to protect people by sheltering them. I guess we have some comfort in knowing that we aren't the worst though," she said, looking up and chuckling.

"I don't know how much I should tell you but there's another group in the government that causes half the problems we solve. They're always unleashing all sorts of demons and creatures and just doing tons of dumb stuff. I can't believe they haven't been shut down yet." She said, smiling about all the crazy antics of the military's paranormal research group.

Nick and Judy stared for a moment, terrified by what sorts of 'demons and creatures' could be unleashed at any moment by this secret government group. Tanya noticed and tried to calm their fears.

"Don't worry about that though. All of that stuff happens in military bases-" She paused to face paw "-you weren't supposed to know that… how about we change the topic. Nick, why did you join the force?" She asked. He smiled, remembering how far he'd come in the last year or so.

"Well, when I was young I always wanted to be a ranger scout, but they were very speciest and it didn't go so well for me. After that, I gave into stereotypes and became a con artist. What I did was barely legal but I had everything I needed to be impervious to legal consequences. The one thing I forgot was tax evasion.

"Knowing that, carrots here blackmailed me into helping her solve a missing mammal case. That case ended up being the Night-howler Conspiracy. After all we had been through, she convinced me that I could be more than just a low life, so I joined the force." He said. James and Tanya looked at each other perplexed.

"Wait a minute… Judy, did you go to the DMV with him while you were investigating all that?" Tanya asked.

"Yeah, why?" Judy replied. Tanya gasped.

"So that was you before you became an officer Nick! James and I were in line to get our licenses renewed and we saw you two! We knew who Judy was since she was the first rabbit officer, but we had no clue who you were! We always wondered if you were one and the same but figured it was just coincidence. What a small world." Tanya said. She felt like she had just solved a great mystery.

"Huh. What are the odds," Nick said, remembering the day. _That was one hell of a day._ He thought, recalling the multiple near-death experiences, and hustles he pulled on Judy. They were all finished eating and decided to go to the hospital. Tanya was quite sore but she could tell there was nothing more serious than bruised tissue.

"Should we just head back to the precinct or come with you two?" Judy asked.

"Well, since this is technically a gunshot injury it's going to be reported to police anyways, might as well have you two come with us," James said.

"Yeah, we probably should. We'll follow you two." Judy said as she got in her car. James took the wheel in their car and they headed to the hospital, all hoping the prognosis was good for Tanya.

...

 **A/N: If you go to the DMV scene in the movie, there actually is a female snow leopard and male deer/antelope/oryx of some kind** **standing in line next to each other. You cant see the horns so I can't tell, but the tail isn't white so that's not good for the case of it being a whitetail deer. I don't care though, its James and Tanya dammit!** **Also, I actually imagine Tanya as being quite a bit smaller in build and height, and James being significantly larger in build. Not super ripped or muscular but "big boned" as they say. Tanya's tail is also more like a real snow leopards tail: huge and fluffy. In other words, they are the same size as their real-world counterparts except James has a similar build to a horse, though not as lean.**


	8. Chapter 8: The End Is Here!

**A/N: Last chapter! I completed a story! Whoda thunk it! If you enjoyed this, keep an eye out for my other story, a collaboration with Erwin Rommel98. It is much more serious and spookier than this one.**

 **And please, PLEASE for the love of god, review! I have no clue how well I'm doing. Even if you just say 'Nice' or 'trash' I'll be happy.**

...

Nick, Judy, and James waited in the lobby while Tanya had X-rays taken and was checked over by a doctor. Nick and Judy were busy chatting away when Nick noticed James acting slightly off. He seemed to be scanning the area, looking everything over. Nick gestured for Judy to look and she noticed it too.

"Everything alright Agent Miller?" She asked. He was a little stunned by the question.

"Yeah, why?" He replied genuinely.

"Oh, you seemed like you were watching for something."

"Oh! No that's just a habit of mine. I like to study what's going on around me sometimes," he said. Judy let out a 'huh' and nodded her head in understanding.

"See anything interesting?" Nick asked.

"Well… there's a pipe leaking in the ceiling over there. That wolf sitting in the corner is spooking me a little, looks like he could have a weapon in his sweatshirt. And that zebra is being a little too lenient with her child. That kid is gonna cause problems." He said, watching the young zebra running around. The two officers were amused by his observations.

Nick and Judy continued their small talk, and James decided to pull out his phone. Tanya had sent him a text saying that she would be out soon. He hoped she didn't have any serious issues. Although it isn't the worst thing ever, dealing with Tanya when she is sick or injured is not a desirable situation.

Suddenly he noticed something, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. It was beginning to bow. A look of concern grew stronger on his face as he watched the young zebra move closer to the leaking pipe. He bolted over to the foal and picked him up, quickly pulling him away right as the ceiling collapsed. The mother was shocked and James set the boy down next to her.

"Wow! That was amazing! Oh, thank you so much!" The zebra mother said to him.

"No problem ma'am." He replied, smiling.

"Gosh, I should pay more attention…" She said dejectedly.

"All's well that ends well," James said with a smile and a shrug. Just then, Tanya came out into the waiting room with her arm in a sling. She saw the pile of debris on the floor and the water and deduced that it was a burst pipe. She continued walking, Nick and Judy standing up, joining James in walking towards her, the four converging in the middle of the room.

"How's everything looking?" James asked, cringing while looking at her sling.

"Well, aside from severe bruising it's looking pretty good. The doctor said I should wear this sling just to avoid any strain on my pectoral. That, and good God does it hurt to move my arm."

"Well, that's good. You still up for conducting the search?"

"As long as we don't get into any physical encounters I'm fine, yeah."

"Great. Let's get moving." James said. They all left the hospital and made their way to the abandoned buildings between the two towns where most of the sightings occurred. It was dusk now, and the fading sunlight gave everything a warm reddish hue.

They both parked on the side of the street and got out of their vehicles. The eerie silence of the tiny ghost town was pervasive. They could only hear the occasional breeze through the forest, and the sound of each other's steps. Nick and Judy took directions while Tanya was laying out the plans.

"So, I'm thinking we split up, Judy with me and James with Nick. Let's look over these buildings and see if it's made a home here, or at least moved through here. Then we can split up and check the two wooded areas. Sound like a plan?" She said.

The three of them gave a nod and each team took a side of the street to check the buildings. Judy and Tanya started checking alleyways first, while Nick and James went into what seemed to be a restaurant and bar. While they were searching, Nick realized he was growing more and more anxious by the minute. He was starting to shake and James noticed this.

"What's wrong?" He asked, knowing full well from personal experience what was wrong.

"It's just this spider… I can't stop worrying about it. What is it going to do to us? It's a nearly perfect predator I can't imagine it'll go down easy…"

"I know the feeling. But you know what? Me and Tanya deal with things like this all the time. This isn't gonna be any different from the other monsters we've tracked and killed. We're gonna find this thing and we're gonna kick its ass!" He said with passionate intensity.

He knew that things like this were pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but in the moment they were pretty damn helpful. Nick smiled and let out a small laugh, agreeing with James. His shaking started to die down.

"That's the spirit. Don't worry, there's four of us, highly skilled and highly trained professionals at mitigating danger, versus one brainless beast," He said. Nick agreed and they continued searching, finding nothing in their current building. Nick was feeling quite a bit better after his little pep talk with James. He had quite a bit of respect for James given position and experience.

They found no signs of the creature in the buildings they had checked, and their side of the street had far fewer buildings than Judy and Tanya's, most of them having no apparent entryways given they were boarded up. As they looked over the outsides of the buildings it became more and more apparent that it had been in the area. They waited in the street when they were done looking things over.

Judy and Tanya were finishing their inspections of the outsides of buildings and reached the same conclusion; it had definitely passed through the area. There were claw marks all over, and some of the alleys even had blankets of silk covering the corners. They continued to inspect the buildings on their side to be sure it wasn't actually in the town.

They had checked all of their buildings and were in the hotel when Tanya noticed James and Nick waiting in the street. She stuck her head out of a window on the third floor.

"You guys see anything? We found plenty of evidence that it's been here!" She shouted.

Nick and James laughed at her silly communication method.

"Yeah, we found some webs and claw marks on our side too!" James shouted.

"Oh! Good!... What should we do now?"

"Weren't we gonna split up and check the forests?"

"Oh yeah! Yeah, let's do that!"

"Ok. Which way do you guys want to go?"

"Eh, I'm indifferent! Hey Judy! Hopps!" She shouted, hoping to see if she had a preference. Shortly after, Judy stuck her head out of the 4th-floor window, above and to the left of Tanya, who looked up to her as she spoke. Nick facepawed. it was getting a bit ridiculous.

"Well, if nobody can make up their minds, let's just got to the forest closer to Steven's house!" She said. Tanya looked back to Nick and James and they just shrugged.

"So we'll go to the forest to the west and you two will take the east?" James said.

"Sounds like a plan!" Tanya replied. James turned to Nick.

"Let's go kick some eight-legged ass."

"I'm ready as I'll ever be."

Judy heard the exchange and laughed. They sounded a little over the top but she understood the need to be a little over the top. She wasn't exactly enjoying thought of running into a 5-foot wide spider either. She went to the stairway and made her way to the bottom floor, where Tanya was waiting for her.

They nodded to each other and walked into the street. It was dead silent, and the sun had set. The only light was from the city and moon, and it was only enough to make outlines visible. They began walking into the brush and it quickly became pitch black under the thick canopy of trees. Judy pulled out her flashlight and the beam swept through the darkness.

The two stuck close together as they searched for some sort of large hole that would be the beast's burrow. They crept along, placing each paw ahead of the other carefully and thoughtfully as to not get entangled in the brush. After what seemed like an hour of finding nothing, Tanya spoke up.

"Should we call James and Nick? We clearly haven't seen anything. Maybe they're in trouble…" She said, still inching along through the foliage, clearing the plants out of the way with her good arm.

"I don't know what to do really. Is there any sort of precedent for this kind of thing?" Judy asked.

"I don't…" Tanya started as she tripped on a vine. She fell straight into the ground, Yelling as she fell and landing on her chest. She rolled onto her back wheezing and Judy knelt next to her.

"Oh God, are you ok?" She asked, not knowing what to do.

"Yeah I'm fine, just hurt a lot…"

"Yeah, I'd imagine…" She said, trailing off. Her ears shot up and a terrified look spread across her face. It quickly faded and was replaced by a confused look.

"Do you hear that?" She asked. Tanya looked at her, concerned.

"Please tell me you don't hear that damn thing…"

"No I… I don't think it's the spider, but I hear something… it's like someone is shouting into a pillow…" She said. Tanya began standing up, Judy helping her up the best she could.

"Where is it coming from?"

"Somewhere over here…" Judy said as she began wandering towards the muffled voice. They tread carefully, and as they got closer to the sound, Tanya started to hear it as well. Judy could almost make out what they were saying.

"It sounds like someone yelling for help…" She said as her flashlight swept over a large hole in the ground. It was about ten feet from them and they both froze when they saw it. It was the burrow. They got closer and the shouting had stopped.

"Is there someone down there?" Judy yelled. Tanya heard something but Judy heard exactly what they said.

"Don't worry we're gonna get you out of there!" She yelled as she jumped down, waiting for Tanya to follow. Tanya looked for a second, wondering how to get down. Then she remembered she was a snow leopard and simply jumped down. She landed with a soft thud next to Judy.

The walls of the burrow were lined with the spider's silk, and it stuck to their paws as they walked along. They made it about 20 feet in when it widened out into a slightly larger room. In it, there were two white balls of silk stuck to the walls. One of them looked like bubble wrap, and the other was smooth like a hornet's nest. Tanya figured one of them to be a pile of eggs.

"Hello?" Judy called out. The nest shaped one started rustling and a muffled voice came from it.

"Oh my God, I thought I was gonna die. I heard someone scream and started yelling… Get me outta this thing!" It said. Judy and Tanya rushed over to unwrap whoever was inside. They estimated he was around the size of a fox. Tanya started carefully cutting through the silk with her claws, Judy peeling away the layers.

Eventually, they reached two legs clad in brown jeans and Tanya started grabbing and ripping the silk apart. They kicked their legs out to reveal two cream, brown, and black paws. Tanya grabbed them both in one paw and pulled the mammal out. It was a cat in a plaid shirt, with quite a lot of blood on his shoulder and back. Tanya laid him down on the ground and the two brushed off the webbing that was still stuck to him. They instantly recognized who it was.

"Steven?!" They both said, shocked. He looked at them confused for a moment.

"Well, yeah… who did you think It was?"

"Anybody but the guy who got attacked by a giant spider four days ago! How are you not dead by now?" Tanya said. Steven figured that was pretty reasonable.

"Ugh, God, four days?" He said, staring off into space as the two looked him over for injuries. He had a very significant puncture wound on his left shoulder and a second, smaller one on his back just below it. They had been bleeding at one point but they had long since stopped. His fur was matted and crusty all over.

"How do you feel? What did it do to you?" Judy asked, being more trained for this sort of thing.

"I feel pretty ok... I was having trouble breathing for a while but not now. I can't really use my left arm either, it hurts too much. The damn things jumped on me from the bushes and one of its fangs went right into my shoulder, way into my shoulder, I think it hit my lung. I think the other fang got my back a bit. Then it dragged me in here and covered me in this liquid. God, it was so itchy... I couldn't really move for a while and I felt like I had the flu but it didn't eat me and just wrapped me up…"

"Sounds like it tried to eat you but couldn't… why isn't it in here?" Tanya said.

"It hasn't been in here since it wrapped me up, I don't know when that was but it's been a while… I kinda fell asleep a lot in that web ball... it was pretty comfy."

"Well let's get you the hell outta here in case it comes back," Judy said. He was well enough to walk on his own and they began walking to the exit and one by one jumped out, the three of them all naturally excellent jumpers. Tanya took out her phone and called James.

"Hey, we found the burrow. Get this, Steven was in it. He is alive and relatively well…"

" _That's amazing! Did you deal with the spider?"_

"No, apparently it hasn't been in the burrow for a few days. Have you guys found anything?"

" _No, but we've still got a bit of ground to cover. We heard you scream earlier but we figured something just spooked you."_

"Oh. Yeah, I just tripped and fell."

" _Yeah, that's kinda what we-"_ James began, interrupted by Nick yelling "-OH SHIT! Tanya get back to the town we need some backup!" He yelled as he closed his phone to run. The two of them sprinted away from the 8 legged beast that was now chasing after them. It would dart and lunge at them, breaking branches off of trees as it went.

They ran for their lives, James not having time to pull out his gun. They dodged through bushes and trees and eventually made it back to the group of abandoned buildings. Judy, Tanya, and Steven saw them emerge from the forest down the road from them. They turned and started running straight down the street, the beast following them.

"Cover us, Tanya!" James yelled. Tanya frantically pulled out her gun, not used to using her left paw. James saw that she was using the wrong paw and grabbed Nick, shoving him into his suit, and pulling his suit over his face as she shot. The bullets flew around him, and a few grazed the spider. Her aim was terrible, and when they realized it wasn't going to stop, the three rushed into the old hotel, James Sprinting in after them. James and Tanya slammed the door and two huge fangs smashed straight through the thick wood.

They all started inching away, James pulling Nick out of his suit and practically throwing him to Judy and Steven. Tanya reloaded her gun and James pulled out his. They started dumping rounds into the door but the creature was still pounding into it, very much alive. Tanya was out but James had one more magazine, and he loaded it as the creature broke a hole in the two doors where their bullets had weakened the wood.

He started carefully aiming for its eyes, but it was moving to fast. Every time he shot, the bullet would just get embedded in the thick chitinous shell. He had one round left, and he intended on making it count. The other 4 were backed into a corner, Tanya trying to shield the rest as it finally smashed through the door. It got into a threatening pose for a second, its front legs reared up, exposing its underside. The giant fangs dripped with venom.

James took aim and fired straight into the mouth. The shot was much louder than the previous ones, and the spider exploded, covering James in a light blue fluid. They all were shocked for a moment, not understanding what had happened.

Then Maria, the kinkajou that had seen the creature disappear into her shed, stepped through the doorway with a shotgun, smoke rising from the barrel. Her denim jacket, metal band shirt, and black pants fit the part perfectly. She was one hundred percent badass at the moment. A huge smile spread over James' face.

"Hell yeah Maria!" He said, a bit of the creatures internals hanging from his horn. She smiled back for a moment before seeing Steven huddled in the corner. She dropped her shotgun, running to embrace him. The two hugged for a solid minute or two. James and Tanya watched with smiles on their faces, while Nick and Judy were incredibly confused.

"Oh Steve, I thought you were dead… I've been looking through the woods since the police came to my house, trying to find that things burrow and avenge you..."

"I'm here Hun, don't worry," he said sweetly. While she had told James, and he had told Tanya, she never told Nick or Judy that she was in a relationship with Steven, since he was 7 years older than her and she didn't want him getting in trouble with the law. After a while, Tanya decided that they had gotten enough time for their little moment.

"Well if you two are ok, we really gotta take Steven to a hospital and clean up this mess. Also, Steven, we are gonna need to have a talk about all this," she said.

"Yeah, I'd say. Who are you two anyway?" He said pointing at James and Tanya.

"I'm Special Agent Tatyana Vecher, A3I. This is my partner, Special Agent James Miller."

"No way… That's so cool!" He said. The agents smiled. They took pride in what they did, and the coolness factor was not to be ignored. They all left the old hotel, Maria and Steven getting into the agent's car. James allowed Maria to come with them to the military hospital after some convincing from Tanya. The agents and officers stopped to talk before parting ways.

"Well, seems like this it for us four. Thank you guys so much for the help on this case," James said.

"Well, thank you guys! We never would have found that thing or Steven if it weren't for you two. And thank Maria too," Nick said, laughing.

"Yeah, she really was a lifesaver there," James agreed. They all waved and turned to get into their respective vehicles. At the last minute, Tanya stopped to get their attention.

"Hey, if you two end up on another weird case, don't be afraid to give us a call!" She said.

"Sure thing!" Judy replied, giving a thumbs up. The agents drove off with Steven and Maria. Tanya called a cleanup team to get rid of all the evidence, making sure to tell them to destroy the eggs. Nick and Judy got back in their own car and they began their drive back to the precinct. They were both looking pretty shaggy when they arrived, Nick's fur ruffled from being stuffed into James' coat, and Judy covered in dirt and cobwebs. Ben immediately noticed this.

"Woah, you two look like you had quite the day! What happened?" He asked, stunned by their appearance. Judy decided that she might as well hit two birds with one stone, given she had decided to pay the bet she made with him.

"We just got back from finding the monster that tried to kill Steven Paradit… It was killed and Steven was somehow still alive in the things liar. I'm not giving you any more details since it's all top secret, but you won that dinner bet fair and square, so you will be eating with us tonight. And for a month, I will buy you dinner. Now, we need to go do some paperwork, but we'll be back soon to pick you up for dinner. Any questions?" She said bluntly.

"Ha! knew it! See you later!" He replied. They were expecting more of a reaction, but Clawhauser was an odd one. They shook their heads in utter confusion and left him to his work. They headed back to their office to fill out the forms that stated Steven had been found and was alive.

They described all the details surrounding his disappearance and his rescue, but they were going to hand the file directly to the Chief rather than filing it away in order to keep it secret. After this, they went to the locker rooms and showered, Judy finding more dirt and cobwebs than she would have preferred. _How the heck did I get some in the middle of my back?_ She wondered as she felt it wash away.

The two left their gear in their locker and put their uniforms back on, heading to the front desk to take Clauhauser to dinner. The three left the precinct and took the subway to a nearby restaurant, Vincent's. They made small talk while eating, Ben never bringing up the Paradit case even once. To him, it seemed that his obvious conclusion had simply been proven true.

But what Ben never picked up on was Nick and Judy's disconnect from the dinner. He never noticed their slight absences in concentration. Nor their anxious glances. While he sat and ate normally, their minds were drawn to distant thoughts. Occasionally, they would look out the window, wondering and worrying.

...

 **A/N: Just a little reminder to leave a review... Thanks...**


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